The Bahrain GP race was deleted so here are a few more if you missed it the last time!
***** LIKE F1 - 4 - LIFE ON FACEBOOK! *****
Showing posts with label SAKHIR. Show all posts
Showing posts with label SAKHIR. Show all posts
Sunday, April 26, 2015
Monday, April 20, 2015
2015 Bahrain Grand Prix review
In my opinion this was the best race yet in 2015 and I hope we shall see more of races like this! Let's begin talking about the race starting from the beginning.
Then the actual start was great for the Ferraris. They jumped forward much faster than the Mercs and Kimi Räikkönen even overtook Nico Rosberg.
Pastor Maldonado looked like he was drunk driving because he was all over the place. On track off track and even hit Max Verstappen. I think one reason might be that he was the only one who started the race with medium tyres but it's Maldonado so the problem might be inside the cockpit as well.
The Mercedes is still the better car so Nico had no problem overtaking Kimi and Sebastian Vettel later on. After the first pitstops Vettel had managed to pass Rosberg but made a mistake later on breaking his front wing and letting Nico pass him again. Vettel said that he didn't know what happened to the wing but I thought it was pretty obvious if you drive over some high kerbs.
Kimi changed his softs to mediums in his first pitstop which seemed a bit strange. For some reason he managed to do even faster laps with them and was catching Rosberg. Then for his 2nd pitstop he agreed with the team that he would take softer tyres even though he was skeptical at first. After this he set even faster times than before and was catching Rosberg a second per lap.
Sebastian Vettel was struggling with Valtteri Bottas because he couldn't get pass him even though he was behind him for 15 laps or so. Great work from Valtteri!
On the last few laps Kimi finally overtook Rosberg and took 2nd place. Nico Rosberg said that his brakes broke at the same time as Kimi was overtaking him. Sounds a bit strange if you ask me...
Lewis Hamilton took the checkered flag followed by Kimi Räikkönen, Nico Rosberg, Valtteri Bottas, Sebastian Vettel and the smoking Red Bull of Daniel Ricciardo.
Then it's time for my predictions and how well I did:
Pole position: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - CORRECT
The race:
- Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - CORRECT
- Nico Rosberg, Mercedes - WRONG. He was 3rd.
- Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari - WRONG. He was 5th and his teammate Kimi was 2nd.
Fastest lap: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - WRONG. Kimi Räikkönen was fastest for the 41st time of his career. He equaled Alain Prosts record and only Michael Schumacher has more fastest lap than them. I guess Kimi will get even more fastest laps in 2015 so keep an eye on him.
Surprise: Romain Grosjean will have a great race - He did actually have an pretty ok race but who notices when you are being compared to Maldonado in every Grand Prix.
This weeks bonus for the predictors league: The first DNF of the race. My pick is going to be Pastor Maldonado. - WRONG. Carlos Sainz was the first DNF.
POINTS: 1st - 3
2nd - 5
3rd - 10
+ possible bonus points
HOW IT WORKS: the aim of the game is simply predict who comes where in the race (top3). A total of 18 points can be won on a race day. For example if you get winner and and 3rd place right but 2nd wrong you get 13 points.
HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR PREDICTIONS: send an email to f14lifeblog@gmail.com or message the Facebook page to submit your predictions. You have until lights out to make them. If you submit them when the race has started they won't count. So be quick!
THE PRIZE: the winner of the league will win themselves a admin place on the F1 4 LIFE page along side AE, JT, MW & MH. If you don't want to be an admin you are welcome to participate anyway.
Thursday, April 16, 2015
Wednesday, April 15, 2015
2015 Bahrain Grand Prix preview
The season just started and it's already time for the fourth Grand Prix! Will Mercedes continue with their dominance or is Ferrari going to win another race?
This is going to be the 11th Grand Prix at Sakhir if I remember correctly. It would have been the 12th but the 2011 Bahrain Grand Prix was cancelled because of the Bahraini protests if you still remember?
One of the most interesting thing though is that last year Bahrain switched from daylight to a night race! They will continue like this in 2015 as well.
So what has happened in the past 11 years at this circuit?
In 2004 the first race was a bit boring if I remember correctly. Ferrari was still dominating the series so they had a 1-2 and Button was about half a minute behind them.
In 2005 it was a bit different because now it was the year of Renault. Fernando Alonso won, Jarno Trulli was second in his Toyota and Kimi Räikkönen was third in his McLaren. Alonso and Räikkönen ended up being the two superstars in 2005.
In 2006 all I can remember is that Räikkönen started from the back and was still third in the end. A very impressive performance. In front of him was the two drivers who fought for the championship that year, Michael Schumacher in second and Fernando Alonso in first place.
In 2007 Felipe Massa won the race, Lewis Hamilton was second and Kimi Räikkönen was third again.
In 2008 Massa won again, Räikkönen was second this time and Robert Kubica third. It seems that Massa and Räikkönen have also been very successful at Sakhir.
In 2009 Jenson Button took the only victory for a British driver (until Hamilton won in 2014) in Bahrain. Brawn was the team and it was their dominance back then and not Mercedes.. later Brawn became Mercedes.
In 2010 Bahrain was the first race of the season and it was also Alonso's first race at Ferrari. He did the same thing as Räikkönen had done in 2007 by winning in the first race at Ferrari.
In 2013 Sebastian Vettel won and the Lotuses of Räikkönen and Grosjean followed him. The same podium result was also in 2012 so these guys really seem to like this track.
Last year it was all about Lewis Hamilton's and Nico Rosberg's one on one fight at the top. That made the race one of the most interesting in 2014. I hope we will see something similar this weekend but the Ferraris should join the battle if they have the pace!
So who has been most successful in Bahrain? If we look at the stuff I just said earlier then Fernando Alonso! He has won 3 races, Massa and Vettel has won 2 and then Button and Hamilton only once. If we talk about other podium positions then Räikkönen has three 2nd places and three 3rd places. He didn't drive there in 2010.
Then it's time for my predictions:
Pole position: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
The race:
- Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
- Nico Rosberg, Mercedes
- Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari
Fastest lap: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
Surprise: Romain Grosjean will have a great race.
This weeks bonus for the predictors league: The first DNF of the race. My pick is going to be Pastor Maldonado.
This weeks bonus for the predictors league: The first DNF of the race. My pick is going to be Pastor Maldonado.
POINTS: 1st - 3
2nd - 5
3rd - 10
+ possible bonus points
HOW IT WORKS: the aim of the game is simply predict who comes where in the race (top3). A total of 18 points can be won on a race day. For example if you get winner and and 3rd place right but 2nd wrong you get 13 points.
HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR PREDICTIONS: send an email to f14lifeblog@gmail.com or message the Facebook page to submit your predictions. You have until lights out to make them. If you submit them when the race has started they won't count. So be quick!
THE PRIZE: the winner of the league will win themselves a admin place on the F1 4 LIFE page along side AE, JT, MW & MH. If you don't want to be an admin you are welcome to participate anyway.
Wednesday, April 9, 2014
Hamilton keeps Mercedes on top as Bahrain test ends
Lewis Hamilton kept Mercedes on top as the first of this year’s four in-season tests concluded in Bahrain.
The Briton finished a comfortable 1.4 seconds clear of the field on the second day, although his best time of 1m 34.136s was set on a development tyre - Mercedes having agreed to dedicate the day exclusively to compound work for Pirelli.
Each of the 11 teams will do likewise over the eight days of in-season testing, with Caterham and Williams having joined Mercedes as Pirelli’s designated teams for the Bahrain test.
Hamilton was also the only driver to break into triple figures in the lap count, completing 120 in total. That was in stark contrast to Ferrari, whose attempts to improve their form suffered a setback when they were forced to abandon running as a “precautionary measure” when the chassis of Fernando Alonso’s F14 T was found to be damaged. The Spaniard managed just 12 laps.
Jean-Eric Vergne, taking over from team mate Daniil Kvyat at Toro Rosso, went second fastest after focusing on aero work and data acquisition.
“It was not a completely trouble free day, but that’s what testing is about,” the Frenchman said. “We got some serious work done today that can inform us on the way to move forward for the next part of the season. From that point of view, today was very productive and important.”
McLaren opted to stick with Kevin Magnussen on day two, but he also suffered problems as a mechanical issue sent him into the gravel just before midday.
Fresh from his podium on Sunday, Force India’s Sergio Perez clocked the fourth fastest time, just ahead of Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo and Marussia’s Jules Bianchi. The Australian was delayed by an electrical problem in the morning, but was able to undertake aerodynamic work in the afternoon. The Frenchman, meanwhile, spent the morning exploring various set-up options on Pirelli’s medium compound, before moving onto analysing brake developments in the afternoon.
Sauber reserve driver Giedo van der Garde took over from Russian rookie Sergey Sirotkin for the second day, but had to contend with power unit gremlins in the morning. He eventually managed 77 laps en route to finish seventh fastest – more than three seconds down on Hamilton, but still ahead of Alonso.
"We found something interesting during the long runs in the end," said Van der Garde. "Besides that, I think the performance run was also quite good as it was during the hottest part of the day, so the time was pretty good.
"All in all, I am happy that I got the chance to drive the C33 again and I am looking forward to being back behind the wheel for FP1 in China.”
Caterham were also waylaid by early technical problems on what was a very hot day, with temperatures in excess of 30 degrees Celsius. The team managed to fix its ERS complaints however, and Marcus Ericsson completed 66 laps by the close of play.
That was two more laps than Williams’ reserve driver Felipe Nasr managed. The Brazilian, like Hamilton, spent the day doing development work for Pirelli.
Lotus rounded out the timesheets, with Romain Grosjean suffering power unit issues as he completed just 16 laps in total, the fastest of which was over nine seconds off Hamilton’s best in the F1 W05.
Unofficial Wednesday times from Bahrain:
1. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 1m 34.136s, 120 laps
2. Jean-Eric Vergne, Toro Rosso, 1m 35.557s, 64 laps
3. Kevin Magnussen, McLaren, 1m 36.203s, 26 laps
4. Sergio Perez, Force India, 1m 36.586s, 63 laps
5. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull, 1m 37.310s, 67 laps
6. Jules Bianchi, Marussia, 1m 37.316s, 93 laps
7. Giedo van der Garde, Sauber, 1m 37.623s, 77 laps
8. Fernando Alonso, Ferrari, 1m 37.912s, 12 laps
9. Marcus Ericsson, Caterham, 1m 39.263s, 66 laps
10. Felipe Nasr, Williams, 1m 39.879s, 64 laps
11. Romain Grosjean, Lotus, 1m 43.732s, 16 laps
(source: f1.com)
Monday, April 7, 2014
2014 Bahrain Grand Prix review
This was one of the best races in a looooong time! Proper racing just like I like it. It was also nice that they had changed it to a night race. It worked better that way in my opinion.
First of all nice to see that Kimi Räikkönen finally got the car to work in qualifying. He was 6th and got to start 5th when his teammate Fernando Alonso was only 10th. Unfortunately he got stuck behind Valtteri Bottas in the start when his car didn't move an inch at first.
Felipe Massa's start was probably the best of his career. He just launched away but couldn't pass the Mercs of course.
Kevin Magnussen hit Kimi in the back again! Second time in a row that he does this and Kimi's third race out of three where somebody hits him from behind. Very unlucky season so far for him.
Alonso passed Kimi easily because of his problems and stayed in front of him most of the race. Alonso fought again with Nico Hülkenberg like he has done in every race so far this season.
Did you guys see Luca Di Montezemolo's face when the HULK overtook Alonso? He looked really pissed off! I bet he blamed the drivers again as he usually does. He should wake up and see that the car is terrible.
The F14-T is the worst since 2009 but at least Kimi got podiums and a win that year. Another very interesting point is this: How far back would Ferrari be without drivers like Alonso and Räikkönen?! They are probably the best drivers working together in my opinion. I mean who wouldn't want Räikkönen and Alonso driving for them? Without them Ferrari would be fighting against Marussia in the back! Believe me or not but to me it's pretty obvious that the drivers are not to blame here.
Enough about Ferrari. So what about Lotus? They finished the race with both cars this time but what was going on in Pastor Maldonado's mind?! In the beginning he crashed with Jean-Eric Vergne and later he smashed straight into Esteban Gutierrez like a snow plow! Take a look:
Maldonado got a 5-grid penalty for China. That's it?! Daniel Ricciardo got a 10-grid penalty because his wheel was loose. Which was more dangerous? Ricciardo didn't even do anything wrong and it was worse. So so stupid!
More about Ricciardo! I loved it when they told Sebastian Vettel on the radio "Daniel is faster than you". I guess this was a slightly better day for the Aussie fans.
If we talk more about the radio conversations then we should bring up Massa. In the previous race he didn't wanna move to the side when Bottas was faster than him and had newer tyres. Now he asked Williams if Bottas could let him pass. WHAT?! well actually he didn't say it straight out but everybody knew what he meant when he said that Bottas' tyres look bad from behind, it's slippery etc. They didn't respond and Bottas got to decide on his own when to come in to the pits.
Bottas came to the pits at the best possible moment and it looked like he could have taken third place in the end. Unfortunately for his sake the safety car kind of ruined it for both him and Massa. I was waiting to see them fight for the third spot at the end part of the race but it was Force India instead who benefitted from this.
Sergio Perez was better than his teammate in the end. He drove a phenomenal race and was one of the stars of the day. Why couldn't he perform with McLaren like that? One reason was probably that McLaren was terrible last year.
What else? Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton were fighting like Senna and Prost at the top! If they continue with that then this season will be very interesting even though they would dominate the whole season. I don't even care! More fighting like that and I am happy.
Then some bad news. Jean-Eric Vergne was hospitalized after the race. He didn't eat and drink enough because he wanted to stay fit and light weighted. Bad idea.
Adrian Sutil raced without water in the car so that his car would be slightly faster. He retired the race so it did him no good.
Then it's time for my guesses and the actual results as usual:
Pole position: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - CORRECT
The race:
- Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - CORRECT
- Fernando Alonso, Ferrari - WRONG! FERRARI HAS NOTHING ON THE MERCEDES POWERED ENGINES RIGHT NOW. Nico Rosberg was 2nd.
- Kimi Räikkönen, Ferrari - WRONG! Sergio Perez was 3rd.
Fastest lap: Nico Rosberg, Mercedes - CORRECT
Surprise: Romain Grosjean, Lotus - The only surprise with Grosjean was that both of the Lotuses finished the race. The biggest surprise was Sergio Perez if you ask me.
Sakhir stats - the 900th Grand Prix in numbers
The 900th world championship Grand Prix was not just a thriller - it was also a race full of interesting statistical occurrences.
With victory in Bahrain, Mercedes became the first team since Renault in 2006 to win three consecutive races to start a season. The Silver Arrows also became the first team since McLaren in 2010 to score consecutive one-two finishes. Coincidentally, the winner of those races for McLaren was Lewis Hamilton - and that was also the last time the Briton won back-to-back races. Hamilton now has as many race wins as legendary five-time world champion Juan Manuel Fangio - 24.
Behind Mercedes, Force India scored their first podium since the 2009 Belgian Grand Prix, and only their second since Vijay Mallya assumed control of the team and changed their name from Spyker. Sergio Perez scored his fourth F1 podium finish and is now just three podiums behind Pedro Rodriguez for most rostrums by a Mexican driver.
Sunday’s race in Bahrain - the tenth in the desert - was a milestone Grand Prix for Rosberg and McLaren’s Jenson Button, though they enjoyed contrasting fortunes. The German came home second in what was his 150th Grand Prix start, whilst Button was robbed of a points finish in his landmark 250th race after clutch problems. He was eventually classified 17th.
I will post a longer review of the race later today.
FIA post-race press conference - Bahrain
Drivers: 1 - Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), 2 - Nico Rosberg (Mercedes), 3 - Sergio Perez (Force India)
PODIUM INTERVIEWS
(Conducted by Brian Johnson of the band AC/DC)
Q: What a race! Lewis, what’s it like to win the 900th Formula One grand prix?
Lewis Hamilton: It’s great to see that we have such a great crowd. It’s the first time we’ve had a night race here. I’m so grateful to the team for working so hard to get us up here. It’s my first time winning here in Bahrain, it’s taken me a long, long time, so I’m really proud.
Q: But what a race, probably one of the most exciting Formula One races for a long time, would you agree?
LH: Yeah, it was exciting. Nico drove fantastically well throughout the race; very fair and it was very, very hard to keep him behind, particularly at the end. I had built a gap, that was OK, but he was very fast on the option time so I was on the knife edge the whole time and a real relief when I got across the line.
Q: Congratulations, mate, fantastic race. Nico, you got the fastest lap and you helped to make it one of the most exciting grands prix I’ve seen for a couple of seasons, would you agree?
Nico Rosberg: I strongly dislike coming second to Lewis, that’s really not something I enjoy doing but on the other hand it was definitely the most exciting race I’ve ever done in my whole career. I hope we were able to give all of you fantastic racing in front of the TV. Today was a day for the sport. We put on a massive show as team Silver Arrows so I hope you had a lot of fun in front of the TV and I’ll be back next race to take the win.
Q: Sergio, what was it like following these two guys and what’s it like being back on the podium again? You’re enjoying this aren’t you?
Sergio Perez: Yeah, I mean, it’s been a while since my last podium. This podium is very special for me guys, I told you already on the radio. This is only my third race for the team and it was a really, really good one. The strategy was really close for us. It was looking a lot easier until the safety car came because when the safety car came in we were going on two stops so the people behind, the Red Bulls, they were on there stops but we managed to keep it just to the end; one more lap I couldn’t manage to keep him back.
PRESS CONFERENCE
Q: Lewis a great battle with Nico, no other way to describe it. Just tell us how tough it is to race with a team-mate that hard and not go off and what it means to you to win it?
LH: Well, this weekend started off well and then I seemed to lose pace while Nico picked up his pace. Today, I knew I needed to get a good start and things generally went my way, except when the pace car came out. I’ve never won here. I won I think in Formula 3 back in 2004, so it’s been a long, long time coming. The safety car came out, we had different tyres. It was one of the most difficult races… I think the last time I had a race like that would probably be Indianapolis, 2007. So, a long, long time. Nico drove fantastically well. When you’re with you’re team-mate it’s very, very hard to make the right decisions of where to put your car, where to brake, all these different things, but yeah, it was great.
Q: And Nico? Your side of the story. Obviously at the start, the outside at Turn Four and then later on you attacked him around Lap 18 and 19, again wheel to wheel for a couple of laps. At the end you had a go at it. Is it going to be like this all year?
NR: Yeah. I didn’t have the best of starts. It was still good but Lewis had a little of a better one and that’s the way it went. And then, yeah, I was quicker today, which I was pleased about and gave it a run. Tried to overtake at the end of the first stint, couldn’t make it stick. And then we tried to invert the strategies, just to give me a shot at the end, again to overtake. That was the plan before the race so that worked out well and I tried to keep a good pace on the Prime, knowing that I’ll have a shot again at the end with the Option. It was a good battle again but unfortunately couldn’t make it happen today. Lewis did a good job defending but, y’know, it was a massive fight out there and that’s what I’m here for. For racing like that. I think it was a good day for the sport, which is important, because of recent little bits of criticism. I think they’re all going to be rather quiet tomorrow – which is a very good thing. It’s good that us as Silver Arrows, we made it happen – but of course I am very unhappy with second.
Q: Sergio, it’s been, let’s face it, quite a tough period for you since the last time you were at the podium towards the end of 2012. What does this mean to you today?
SP: It means a lot. It’s a very special podium for myself. As you say, I had a really tough time, my time in McLaren where I was basically quite far… I never have a chance to fight for a podium in all my year. Really, coming into Force India and being able to, only in my third race, to be able to qualify fourth and then straight away being able to fight for the podium was a great feeling. An amazing podium. The Safety Car makes things really hard for me. It was looking quite comfortable before the Safety Car came in and once it came it was really difficult also to switch the Prime tyre on. It was extremely hard as we had a Safety Car for a long period. So I arrive into Turn One after the restart with my team-mate… just couldn’t stop the car, locked the front wheels. Tried my best to keep the position and we managed and then we had the Red Bull coming really quick at the end. Fortunately we managed to keep the podium.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Ralf Bach – Sport Bild) Nico, who took the decision that you stay out two laps longer in the first stint – and when?
NR: The team makes the decision for strategies. We did exactly the plan we discussed before the race. Everything went exactly to plan in order to give me the best opportunity to have a shot at overtaking him at the end of the race. So, it was absolutely… the team played it as fair as they possibly could today, let us race flat out. I don’t think you need more evidence than you saw that we’re here to race this year and there’s no team orders. We want to put on an amazing show for you guys out there, and you at home, and today we managed. Of course that’s the small positive, but as I said I really don’t like coming second.
Q: (Paolo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Lewis, how difficult was it to defend with the Medium tyre against the Soft tyres of Nico?
LH: It was incredibly tough. As I said, it was one of the toughest situations I’ve been in for a long time. The Option tyre, for us, we believe it is worth six-and-a-half tenths. To hold that behind, to keep him out of my gap, out of my slipstream and the DRS was very, very hard. To be pushing flat out for ten laps… it was an exceptional race, I think, to be able to have that. Me and Nico haven’t had a race like that since back in our karting days. I did think today, I was just saying to him today, there was a race we did years ago in… I don’t know what year it was, in karting, our first race together. He was leading the whole way and in the last lap I overtook him and won the race. I thought today for sure he’s going to do the same to me, and get me back. That’s what was going through my head.
Q: (Vincent Marre – Sports Zeitung) Nico, if you could have changed the strategy during the race, that was set before the race, would you or could you have done it?
NR: As I said, the strategy was exactly as planned and it was also what I wanted. I asked for that on the radio, you can listen to it in the race. I said ‘make sure to put me on prime tyres for the second stint because that’s the best way for me to have a shot at Lewis at the end of the race.’ So in hindsight, I would do exactly the same again and it was the perfect strategy for that race. It is a slower strategy in terms of race time, yeah, but it is the one that gives me a shot at the end of the race if I have the speed.
Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto, Motor und Sport) To both Mercedes drivers: just at the end of the safety car period, Paddy Lowe came on the radio and said to you ‘bring the cars home’. For us, it sounded like ‘don’t attack each other,’ you obviously didn’t do so and then Nico, in the last two or three laps, you didn’t attack any more. Did something happen there?
NR: I was well aware that the whole world was thinking ‘huh, here we go, Silver Arrows team orders, finally they’re there.’ That was clear to me but it wasn’t that at all, it was just ‘guys, make sure that you get these cars to the finish. Don’t break them, don’t crash.’ The message was clear anyway, not really necessary to give such a message because we know that, we drive very hard but in the end with the necessary respect but we’re free to race all the way and in the end, I just got a bit more overheating on the tyres in the last three laps because I was pushing so hard in the slipstream, you know, with less grip, sliding a lot and so the tyres just overheated in the last three laps and I couldn’t get close enough any more. And also with the hybrid, at times you have more then you have less. It’s coming and going and it’s difficult to be there in the right moment when you do have it. It’s not that easy, so there was then a period when I didn’t have enough boost power either.
LH: I don’t really have much more to say but luckily my tyres didn’t go off in those last two or three laps so he seemed to lose a little more than me, so just able to stay ahead.
Q: (Kate Walker – crash.net) Question to both Lewis and Nico: Nico, you were saying that being able to race hard with Lewis is the respect that you have for each other as drivers but you were able to race very very hard and very close. Do you think that having been teammates in karting gave you more of a sense of where each other was going to put their car?
NR: No. I was just pushing to the limit, going for it and just making sure we don’t crash, but all the way, as hard as possible and it worked out, and at no time did I think ‘we’re going to...’ At no time were we at risk of taking both cars out. There was always the necessary margin, might not have looked like it on TV but there was. It was good racing.
Q: (Livio Oricchio – Universo On Line) To Nico and Lewis: that was wonderful but mainly fair. It would be nice if you could describe to us some moments... for instance, you Nico, said to yourself ‘now I’ve got him, I’ve overtaken’ and you Lewis ‘no, he didn’t get me.’ Can you describe to us more details from inside the battle?
NR: I thought I’d got him about nine times but they didn’t work. He always got the run back on me and he did a good job, that’s it. Lewis is obviously a great driver and made it work and next time I need to do better.
(Inaudible question) Out of turn one and then he chose to go on the outside for once. Because it’s difficult to see, you don’t see him. I don’t see where he is at times, I really don’t know because there’s a big dead angle in the car and so when it’s so close, so many times I didn’t know where he was and that’s where I thought ‘OK, now I’ve got him’ and then all of sudden he reappeared again. That’s it.
LH: Yeah, it was the same for me. A lot of times he was in my blind spot and I had no idea if he was there or not, so I tried to leave space. You don’t know whether he’s attacking or braking later into the next corner because you don’t even know where he is. That was very difficult. But for me it feels like a long time that I’ve been able to have a real racer’s race and really use whatever skills that I’ve acquired over the years as a youngster in karting. Being able to apply them in Formula One is a lot harder but to be able to pull them out of the bag and use them again... The time that I went round the outside or got back, just timing it right – you know, it’s a fantastic feeling to be able to do that. It’s one of the greatest feelings when you obviously come out on top.
Q: (Paolo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Lewis, do you think this could be one of the best victories of your career so far?
LH: I have to watch it back but it’s difficult to really... every one is very special but of course, this one today, I think ultimately of course winning the race is the greatest thing, so I’m going to go away tonight very happy of course, but deep down inside, I didn’t have the pace today and that’s always still in the back of my mind and I’ve got to really go and work hard to try and find out what that is, because that wasn’t the case in the last race. A lot of the advantages that I had in the last race Nico found them as we came here and applied them and did even better, so I’ve got to go now and find out what he did better than me and see if I can improve for the next race.
Q: (Cristobal Rosaleny– Car and Driver) Checo, last year was maybe your more difficult year in Formula One with McLaren. This year you have alongside you a big name like Nico Hulkenberg. Could you describe how important it is for you to be in front and taking the podium you never got at McLaren?
SP: It was very important. Obviously, when I joined McLaren, I joined a really fast team, the fastest team there of all my options back then, so when the McLaren option came to me, I didn’t think twice. So I went into McLaren and I found out that we had a really tough time, a very difficult time and basically I had to... I frustrated myself very much because you come as a young driver, hoping to fight for the title, to win races and when you join a big team it’s the first thing that you think of and it was not that way so I had a really tough time, more than people think, because of the fact that I had a competitive car that was able to fight for a podium. So being able to do it is a great feeling. Obviously the race, the way it paid... Yesterday qualifying was good but we were at a big disadvantage with the people behind, for example Nico Hulkenberg, my teammate, he had newer tyres than I did and at the end of the day, when we were on two stops, it makes a massive difference. He was able to stop a lap earlier and not make a difference... he jumped me, I had to jump him back and overtake the Williams. So a bit like Lewis was saying, it was a really enjoyable race, a bit like karting days when you’re fighting in and out. But when you are sliding all the time and you have degradation, it was not so enjoyable towards the end of the race, but still, once you’ve crossed the finish line it was a great feeling for me.
(source: f1.com)
Sunday, April 6, 2014
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)