Formula 1 - 2017

[MIKA27]

MASSA: WE’VE BEEN TOGETHER FOR 16 YEARS. THANK YOU!

In scenes worthy of Ground Hog Day, Felipe Massa went through the now familiar emotional roller-coaster of another final farewell to his fans at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Last year a tearful Massa walked the length of the pitlane, after crashing out of the grand prix, draped in a Brazilian flag in what was expected to be his final race on home soil.

We all know what happened since then (returning to fill in for Mercedes bound Valtteri Bottas etc etc) but now it is sure to be Massa’s final grand prix in Brazil as he confirmed his retirement earlier this month.

On the day at Interlagos, he fought hard all afternoon with his nemesis Fernando Alonso – his former teammate at Ferrari – and was rewarded with seventh place for his efforts, finishing ahead of the Spaniard.

Immediately after the race it was ‘lump in throat’ inducing stuff when the 36-year-old’s son Felipinho hailed his father over the team radio, “Daddy I am so proud of you. Wherever you go I will support you. I love you. By the way, I loved your start.”

After the podium ceremony featuring the top three, Massa was brought up in front of the crowd by fellow Brazilian Rubens Barrichello.

Clearly emotional, Massa said to his fans: “I’m really emotional today because of all of you guys [the fans]. Thank you for everything that we passed together, for all the support.”

“The energy that I felt today here, to make the best race I could. I’m so happy for my race, did the best the car could achieve. Thank you very much all you guys. I love you. Thank you so much.”

Later he told reporters, “It’s so difficult to explain my feelings today. I had an amazing start. I then managed to overtake a few cars after the Safety Car, managed to overtake Alonso which was very important for me because I knew he would have better pace than me.”

“I managed to keep him behind. I was so emotional when I finished the race. It was a very difficult race for me. It was like many victories that I took it. I drove a perfect race from beginning to end, managed the tyres, managed everything around the car, the pace I had.”

“To finish the race and feel the emotion of the people after such an amazing race. I knew last year I had so much love and emotion from the people but I didn’t finish the race like I wanted. Today I finished like I wanted. That’s why I did another year.”

“It was a race that I will never forget. For sure I will miss all of you guys. We’ve been together for 16 years. Thank you,” added Massa on the occasion of his penultimate Formula 1 race.

The 36 year old Brazilian made his Formula 1 race debut at the 2002 Australian Grand Prix and has made 267 starts, winning 11 times and celebrating on the podium 41 times.

He was runner-up in the 2008 Formula 1 World Championship, losing the title by one point to Lewis Hamilton that year.

 

[MIKA27]

Esteban Ocon left frustrated after suffering first F1 retirement

Esteban Ocon was left frustrated after he exited a Formula 1 race for the first time in his career in the wake of opening-lap contact with Romain Grosjean.

Grosjean and Ocon came to blows through Ferradura on the first lap, with the youngster’s Force India sustaining terminal damage in the collision, despite his best attempts to return to the pits.

It marked the first time Ocon had failed to reach the chequered flag since his debut at last year’s Belgian Grand Prix, and also brought an end to his run of points, which stretched back to Canada.

“I’m not happy to retire from the race,” said Ocon.

“I knew this day would come at some stage, but I wasn’t expecting it to be today. It’s a shame because it has been three years since my last retirement in single-seaters [in 2014].

“There was nothing I could do; Romain lost the car in Turn 6 and crashed into me.

“He made a mistake and I suffered from it, my front wheel rim was damaged so I couldn’t even drive back to the pits.

“It’s frustrating because the car was quick and we had the pace to be fighting up there with Checo [Pérez].

“Days like this happen but I hope it will be another three years before it happens again.”

Grosjean was deemed culpable and was issued with a 10-second time penalty, but pointed to damage on his Haas as the cause of the clash.

“The only thing I can say about the opening lap is that I got massively hit in Turn 1,” said Grosjean.

“I believe I had a puncture on the rear left. I got to Turn 6 and lost the car, and I think it was just the puncture.

“Getting a penalty on top of that – I’m not super happy with it.”

[MIKA27]

Fernando Alonso labels lack of straight line speed as 'amazing'

Fernando Alonso once again hit out at Honda’s lack of power, describing its deficit during the Brazilian Grand Prix as “amazing”.

McLaren has been hindered by a lack of reliability and performance since reuniting with Honda in 2015, and holds a low-key ninth in this year’s championship.

Alonso, having held fifth on the opening lap, dropped behind Felipe Massa at the post-Safety Car restart, and was unable to overhaul his opponent across the remainder of the race.

Alonso ultimately came home in eighth place, after both he and Massa were demoted by Lewis Hamilton and Daniel Ricciardo, and was left to lament a lack of top end speed.

“We had a fantastic car all the race through but we could not overtake,” said Alonso.

"The lack of power was amazing, the same in Mexico. I was very close to Felipe out of the last corner a few times and thought 'now is the time I will pass him' but even with DRS he was pulling away.

“The lack of power is quite worrying for Toro Rosso next year.

“[But] for us, it's a happy weekend,” said Alonso.

“We started sixth, were fifth in the first corner, and then we finished in the points. Overall the best weekend so far and quite happy.

“Renault is the best engine company in the last 15 or 20 years so I think we should not worry.”

Alonso was the sole McLaren driver to reach the chequered flag, after Stoffel Vandoorne retired in the wake of contact with Kevin Magnussen on the opening lap.

[MIKA27]

Pierre Gasly's Toro Rosso 'lost power' right at end of Brazilian GP

Toro Rosso Formula 1 driver Pierre Gasly has revealed he "completely lost power" from his Renault engine 200 metres before the finish line of the Brazilian Grand Prix.

While team-mate Brendon Hartley retired just over halfway through the race - continuing Toro Rosso's recent run of reliability woes - Gasly crossed the line in 12th, a lap down on race winner Sebastian Vettel.

But Gasly's car also hit trouble within sight of the flag.

"I knew there was something wrong going on because every lap they were like 'yeah, oil transfer, oil transfer' - and I knew we had old-spec MGU-K so I was like 'fuck, hopefully it's going to last until the end'," Gasly said.

"And then actually 200 metres before the finish line I was full throttle and I lost completely the power on the car.

"I was like 'bup bup bup bup', I crossed the line, I think at 60km/h, and I was like 'what should I do, what should I do?' and they just told me to park the car.

"I don't know exactly what was the problem but there was definitely something."

Despite the final-lap close call, Gasly felt the Interlagos race was the best of his four F1 starts so far.

"It was good," he said. "We knew it would be difficult starting from 19th.

"But watching the races from the past few years, I knew the start was key if we wanted to have a decent race.

"So I went on the outside into Turn 1, which worked out pretty well, I overtook maybe three cars at Turn 1, then one [car into] Turn 2, then after all the mess in front of me I just stayed flat out and tried to avoid everyone.

"I would say in terms of performance we extracted everything we could.

"At the beginning of the first stint I could stay quite close to Carlos [Sainz Jr] - and then after they picked up the pace and we were quite limited with the degradation, so I don't think we could've done much better.

"Finishing 16 seconds behind the Renault, I think definitely our best race and best performance since I arrived in Malaysia."

[MIKA27]

WOLFF: THE BEST FOURTH PLACE I HAVE EVER SEEN

Lewis Hamilton’s performance during the Brazilian Grand Prix was “the best fourth place I have ever seen” according to his Mercedes team chief Toto Wolff and gave the World Champion added impetus to stay in Formula 1 for the long term.

The 32-year-old, who clinched his fourth world title in Mexico at the end of October, offered a glimpse of his personal determination to retain his champion’s crown in his dazzling drive from the pit lane to fourth position.

And while 2016 champion Nico Rosberg, Hamilton’s former teammate with Mercedes, lauded the Briton’s speed and race-craft, he also suggested that Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari had this year missed out on their best chance to stop him.

“I don’t think Sebastian Vettel will have a better chance next year,” said Rosberg after watching the four-time champion make the most of Hamilton’s rare blunder in Saturday’s qualifying to claim his fifth win of the season ahead of Valtteri Bottas in the second Mercedes.

“This year the opportunity for him to win the World Championship was huge, but Mercedes as a whole team is just a power – so I think the gap between them and Ferrari could even get bigger in the coming season.”

As praise for Hamilton’s drive poured in, however, Rosberg warned that even the champion team can make mistakes.

“Yes, let’s see. Even Mercedes has made mistakes and Sebastian has to hope for more of that and to be there at the right moment.”

Rosberg’s former boss Wolff said he believed Hamilton’s drive was “astonishing” and suggested that he had the speed to win the race after starting in the pit lane.

Hamilton finished the race in fourth place and just 5.4 seconds adrift of the victorious Vettel after scything through the field in a repaired car fitted with a new power unit following his opening lap crash in Q1.

“I think a win would have been possible,” said Wolff. “He was the quickest guy out there, but you must remember that Sebastian was managing the pace of the race, apart from the last laps. So we haven’t probably seen the real race.”

He added that Hamilton, who said he was satisfied to have redeemed himself by finishing fourth after his crash in qualifying, had achieved what they expected.

“When we discussed it in the morning, we thought that what would be a realistic target with a safety car would be P4,” said Wolff.

“We had that so that helped us a little bit, but the gap to the Ferraris was too close to have achieved much more.”

Wolff added: “For me it was the best fourth place I’ve ever seen – to start from the pit lane and end up 5.4 seconds behind the leader. That is quite an astonishing drive.”

Hamilton said he had been keen to show he retained his heart-felt desire to succeed and “showed that I have many more races to go in my career”.

[MIKA27]

PIRELLI CANCEL F1 TYRE TEST AFTER ARMED ROBBERY IN BRAZIL

Pirelli and McLaren have cancelled a scheduled two day Formula 1 tyre test at the Interlagos circuit after teams were targeted by armed robbers in Sao Paulo over the weekend.

A robbery attempt on a Pirelli van after the Brazilian Grand Prix, which was thwarted by the team’s security staff, was the latest of a string of incidents involving Formula One personnel at Interlagos.

Four-times world champion Lewis Hamilton had called on Formula One to act after mechanics from his Mercedes team were robbed at gunpoint in their mini-van as they left Interlagos on Friday.

The Briton, who was not present at the time, said shots were fired and a gun pointed at one person’s head before valuables were taken.

Sunday’s attack on the Pirelli van took place after security had supposedly been tightened at the track.

“Following a robbery attempt, neutralised by Pirelli security, on a Pirelli van at the Interlagos circuit last Sunday… it has been decided to cancel the tyre test,” Pirelli said in a statement on Monday.

The decision was taken with McLaren, who were due to test Pirelli’s 2018 tyres with British teenager Lando Norris and Belgian Stoffel Vandoorne on Tuesday and Wednesday, and the governing FIA “in the interest of the safety of the personnel”.

McLaren’s executive director Zak Brown told Reuters the team had put in place additional security measures before the test was called off.

“The circuit needs to get its act together because it’s not acceptable,” he said.

“If we are going to travel to places, we need to make sure that the government and city is doing a good job keeping everyone safe.”

The FIA, whose staff were also targeted on Friday, had promised “heavy police reinforcements” for the weekend.

Despite that, Sauber strategy engineer Ruth Buscombe reported on Twitter that a team van was targeted late on Saturday.

The Interlagos circuit has a history of such attacks, with cars caught in traffic jams or at red stop lights on a road that runs past a hillside slum.

Unlike regular team staff, race drivers travel to and from their hotels with police escorts and in bulletproof cars.

Britain’s Jenson Button was in a car that was attacked outside the circuit in 2010, a year after he won the world championship, but his police driver smashed through the traffic to escape.

“There’s a huge amount of traffic flowing in and out at peak times and, unfortunately, it provides an opportunity for these situations,” Mike Collier, McLaren’s head of human performance who was in the car with Button at the time, told Reuters.

“There is clearly a huge amount of poverty as well and when the race teams arrive, they come with a huge amount of assets and wealth.”

[MIKA27]

VILLENEUVE: IT’S EMBARRASSING FOR BOTTAS

In the wake of a dreary ‘battle’ for the podium at the Brazilian Grand Prix, Jacques Villeneuve has slammed Valtteri Bottas’ performance during the race at Interlagos.

Bottas qualified on pole, after Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton crashed out in Q1. On race day the Finn was outgunned off the start-line by Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel who took the lead and stayed there until the end, unchallenged by Bottas who settled for second.

Although Vettel did seem to control the race pace, Bottas never fired up a serious challenge on track and seemed to accept his second place plight. It was a stalemate that lasted 71 laps.

Villeneuve, the 1997 F1 World Champion, told reporters, “It was a great drive from Vettel, he won it at the start. He was aggressive. When you see what the Mercedes was capable of, you just have to look at Lewis and Bottas wasn’t up to pace. It’s embarrassing for Bottas.”

Hamilton started from the pitlane, way behind the leaders. By the end of the race – aided slightly by an early safety car period – the World Champion was a mere 2.7 seconds adrift of Bottas.

“Lewis finished around three seconds behind him when he started from the pits. It’s embarrassing. He simply is not on the pace of Hamilton. It’s been like that all year. That’s his level. Which is a good number two,” added Villeneuve.

Bottas admitted after the race that he was disappointed, his only real chance coming when he made an early pitstop in an attempt at the undercut which did not work, “I got pretty close after he came out from the pits but just not quite enough to try to overtake.”

“Definitely disappointed after a good day on Saturday, and obviously not so good for me on the battle we have for the second place of the championship. [Vettel] has quite a good lead now so we need some miracles in Abu Dhabi,” added Bottas.

[MIKA27]

HAMILTON: THE CAR IS GOING TO BE A BUS NEXT YEAR

Formula 1 World Champion Lewis Hamilton has taken a swipe at next years rules which limit drivers to three engines, while lamenting the impact that the halo will have on the performance of cars in 2018.

Hamilton lamented the fact that the halo safety device, which will be mandatory next year, will add weight to the overall package and he as a result he expects cars to be more cumbersome as a result.

“The car is going to be a bus next year, it is going to be so heavy, like a NASCAR,” predicted Hamilton. “The braking distances get longer, the brakes are always on fire, on the limit.”

“I know it sounds negative but as a racer we want fast, nimble cars where we can attack always every single lap. Unfortunately that is not what we generally have.”

With reference to his storming drive from the pit lane to fourth place in the Brazilian Grand Prix, he said, “I had that today but I was coming from a different place.”

This year drivers had four power units (and related components) at their disposal, after which replacement parts triggered grid penalties. Next year the quota for the season has been reduced to three engines per driver.

“I don’t like the idea of going to three. That sucks. Sprinting is what we are missing in F1. If you look at the front guys, they were managing and that is what we are normally doing.”

“I don’t think that is too exciting for people to watch. If you look at the most exciting races – particularly when it rains – we don’t have those limitations. I’m not sure cutting down engines is helping it in that direction,” added the Mercedes driver.

The engine related grid penalty system, which is universally unpopular with F1 fans, has resulted in farcical situations throughout the season. An obvious example being the McLaren-Honda drivers who have been hit with some 400 or so grid penalty places in the 19 races so far this season.

[MIKA27]

LAUDA: LIBERTY VISION FOR FUTURE OF F1 IS WORRYING ME

Niki Lauda has added his voice to those expressing growing concern about the future direction of Formula 1 under new American owners, Liberty Media.

During the Brazilian Grand Prix weekend and only days after recent threats by Ferrari that they may walk out of the sport if a package of new engine proposals is introduced, Lauda has highlighted the fears of many paddock observers.

The three-time world champion, who is a non-executive chairman of the Mercedes team and a long-time friend of former commercial boss Bernie Ecclestone, made clear that he has doubts about the new regime’s understanding of F1, its history and traditions.

And he mocked some of the cost-cutting ideas for greater entertainment as delivered in a recent proposal on behalf of Liberty by chief executive Chase Carey, motorsports boss Ross Brawn and the ruling body, the International Motoring Federation (FIA).

“I’m worried,” said Lauda. “It’s right that the American owners needed time to understand what F1 is, but that is about to expire. And what they think about the future is worrying me.”

In an interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport, the Italian sports daily, he added that it was misguided for the new owners to seek to improve the entertainment value of F1 by following gimmicks in other sports.

“The FIA, Chase Carey and Ross Brawn repeat that we need to level off the performance, but the DNA of F1 is the opposite,” he explained.

“You are a fool if you think, that to make Grands Prix more attractive, you need to have a different winner every weekend. F1 is about competition.

“Developing cars is one of the important foundations, as well as the bravery of the drivers. Instead, you want to penalise the best teams, and protect the drivers as if they are babies – with the introduction of the halo, for example.”

Lauda’s outburst follows strong words from Ferrari chief executive officer Sergio Marchionne who said the Italian team would pull out of F1 if the proposed update to the engine regulations, from 2021, is not modified.

Ferrari’s disappointment in Liberty’s proposals came as the new owners announced this week that prize money income for the teams would be cut for the first time in recent history.

Annual figures revealed that the pool of cash available for distribution, for the latest quarter, is down 13 per cent from $316 million to $273 million.

Ferrari, as the oldest and most successful entrant, receive more of these revenues than any other team.

Lauda said he was concerned at these figures and the absence from Liberty’s plans of a scheme for enhancing revenue streams. He said he accepted that “cheaper engines for all” was a laudable goal.

“I’m sure that we will find a satisfactory compromise for that, but the heart of the problem is something else,” he said.

“In the face of cost growth of some 70 million euros from one year to the next, revenues have declined, but where do we want to go from here? There should be ideas for generating more money, but I do not see them.

“I heard from (Liberty commercial boss) Sean Bratches, who would like to see the drivers accompanied with grid kids. Is imitating football having new ideas?”

Lauda, like many team bosses, believes the sport needs a much more comprehensive masterplan for the future.

“It needs a more open project,” he said. “For example, a budget cap. It is logical and correct, but it needs a three-year plan to realise it. We have employees, so what do we do with them? Do we just cast them off and throw them on the road?

“For now, Liberty has only announced that they want to introduce it, but they have not explained how they intend to realise it,” added Lauda.

[MIKA27]

RAIKKONEN: IT GETS A BIT BORING UNFORTUNATELY

A grim-faced Kimi Raikkonen admitted that despite having the speed in his Ferrari, the nature of Interlagos is such that it is extremely difficult to overtake and therefore it got boring for him during the Brazilian Grand Prix as he held station for 71 laps to claim the final spot on the podium.

“I took it easy in the beginning and I was still catching up the guys at the front but I felt I took care of my tyres and once I pushed I could get close but you can’t really do anything,” explained Raikkonen after the race.

“Unfortunately the cars this year in this kind of place they can be very difficult to pass and it gets a bit boring unfortunately. I thought that I had a lot of speed but there was nothing that I could have done. I stayed around the same distance from Valtteri. It was a good end but I wanted more.”

It was a lonely race for Raikkonen on his way to third place on the day, the only spot of bother was late in proceedings with Lewis Hamilton storming from the back of the field to loom large in the Ferrari driver’s mirrors.

He recalled, “I didn’t really look at what he was doing I was trying to do my own stuff. I had a few lock ups in the first corner basically for no real reason but I was checking on Hamilton from the mirrors as it is hard to see when you are spread out and you can lose sight of them.”

“I had a very good last few corners and I could see when we pulled out of the last corner that he was quite far away.

“I know [Mercedes] are very fast when they put the full power and full engine with DRS they can catch up a lot at the end of the straight but I was quite comfortable [ahead]. I had a good gap in the last three corners.”

“I was surprised that he got closer to me in the last few laps and that is why I locked up a few times at turn one as I was looking too much in the mirrors and not braking so heavy so locked a little bit,” added Raikkonen.

The Finn could finish fourth in the F1 World Championship if he outscores Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo by eight points at the season finale in Abu Dhabi.

[MIKA27]

Sergio Perez rues 'complicated' opening lap after losing ground

Force India’s Sergio Pérez was left to lament a “complicated” opening lap to the Brazilian Grand Prix as he lost ground, before coming home in ninth position.

Pérez started from fifth spot on the grid but was passed by McLaren-Honda’s Fernando Alonso through the Senna S and “pushed wide”, allowing Williams’ Felipe Massa through.

Pérez was overhauled by the recovering Lewis Hamilton and Daniel Ricciardo, demoting him to ninth place, and opted to extend his first stint, in a bid to give him an advantage over the Massa/Alonso scrap.

Pérez closed the gap during the final stages of the race but fell just short, coming across the line within two-tenths of Alonso, who in turn finished just half a second behind Massa.

“Things got quite complicated on lap one when Alonso pushed me wide at Turn 2,” said Pérez.

“I was on the grass and lost another position to Massa. That was very costly for my race because I spent the whole afternoon trying to recover.

“We certainly had the pace to finish in seventh, but the very high track temperatures made things difficult because as soon as you tried to attack you suffered with massive tyre degradation.

“We tried to change our strategy to overcome things, but it wasn’t enough to recover the seventh place.

“In the final few laps I was very close to Massa and Alonso. Massa was quick in the final sector, while Alonso was fast through sector two and had the benefit of DRS to help him defend down the straights.

“Maybe if there had been one more lap it would have been enough to overtake them. Considering the way things unfolded, I’m happy with the result but not totally satisfied.”

Pérez was the sole Force India driver to reach the chequered flag after team-mate Esteban Ocon suffered his first Formula 1 retirement due to an opening-lap clash with Romain Grosjean.

[MIKA27]

Steiner takes another swipe at stewards

Haas boss Guenther Steiner has once again questioned the consistency of the race stewards after Romain Grosjean was given a 10-second penalty at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Grosjean was involved a chaotic first lap and brought the first retirement in Esteban Ocon's Formula 1 car after colliding with him.

The Frenchman was in disbelief after learning he had been punished with a 10-second penalty for causing the collision, stating that a puncture meant he had no control.

And Steiner echoes the feelings of his disgruntled driver.

"I share in my surprise more in the verdict," Steiner told reporters.

"It doesn't influence our result here, we were done by then and we took it as a test session, nothing else.

"But he got two penalty points for a race accident in my opinion and then you see Stroll got one penalty point when the speed difference was 140kph – and that was pretty dangerous.

"I'm struggling with consistency here and I continue to struggle."

[MIKA27]

Interlagos track sale will boost security, says Sao Paulo mayor

The mayor of Sao Paulo says public safety is the city government's responsibility and believes the Formula 1 Brazilian GP venue sale will improve safety after a spate of attacks.

Less than 48 hours after Mercedes F1 personnel escaped uninjured following a gunpoint robbery outside the Interlagos track, a car driven by Pirelli tyre fitters was targeted.

They managed to escape uninjured, but it came after promises of a heightened police presence around the venue.

On Monday, Pirelli announced it was cancelling this week's planned tyre test at the venue due to security concerns.

During the event, Williams and Sauber personnel were also subject to attacks, while officials from the FIA were also approached by armed robbers before escaping unharmed.

"Security is the responsibility of the Public Security Secretariat, but it is also the responsibility of the city of Sao Paulo," said mayor Joao Doria, who was speaking before the attack on the Pirelli car.

"When I heard it [the Mercedes case], I spoke to the security secretary to have a police reinforcement in the area around the race track.

"I also determined the reinforcement of agents of the Metropolitan Civil Guard.

"It's sad, it's unfortunate, fortunately anybody wasn't hurt. What we need is to learn a lesson from this for upcoming events."

The city of Sao Paulo is in discussions with three parties interested in purchasing the Interlagos circuit.

Pressure on public funds, amid an uncertain economic climate in Brazil, has led to a proposal to raise cash through the privatisation of real estate, including the circuit, owned by the city.

Doria said privatising the circuit will lead to enhanced security in and around the venue.

"Remember that the privatisation of the racetrack will contribute to this [public safety]," he said.

"So we will have security systems not only in the internal area, but also in the external area of the racetrack."

Doria added that the city is pushing on with plans to sell the circuit and expects the sale to be completed in the "first half of next year".

He added: "We have a lot of groups that showed interest to buy. We can't reveal who are these groups, but we are very confident that national and international groups will be competing for the track.

"The racetrack will not stop being a racetrack.

"They will, obviously, make investments, as well as complementing works that are necessary for the comfort of the spectators, complementing the works already done here by the city of Sao Paulo, with the support of the national government."

Interlagos has a deal to host F1 until 2020 and Doria hopes the new owners can "renew for another decade".

[MIKA27]

"Conservative" engine mode hurt Red Bull in Brazil

Red Bull says that a combination of track characteristics and being forced to run conservative engine modes were to blame for its failure to challenge Mercedes and Ferrari in the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Although the Milton Keynes-based team had won two of the four grands prix before Brazil, and been on the pace in practice and qualifying at Interlagos, it could do nothing to mix it at the front in the race.

But after a run of reliability problems for Renault, Red Bull boss Christian Horner said that his outfit's efforts were not helped by it needing to wind down its power unit to ensure it did not hit problems.

When asked by Motorsport.com to explain why Red Bull's pace in the Brazilian GP was not great, Horner said: "I think, circuit layout, and we've run pretty conservative engine-wise - to be honest with you.

"The way that the race panned out, Max [Verstappen] was having to take so much out of the tyre to go with the leading group, and you could see, if he got within two seconds, it started to damage the tyres.

"Early on, he thought he was quicker than Kimi, but then the tyre started to get into a few issues and then you start to be restricted in your stint length. So it was one of those days where we just didn't quite have enough pace to mount a challenge to the cars ahead."

Although annoyed that the lack of engine performance hampered its bid for another podium finish, Horner admitted that after recent reliability problems, and a shortage of parts, it would have made little sense to try to push things to the limit.

"I think after all the problems that there's been, it was perhaps the more prudent approach to the race," he explained. "And this layout - you know, it's different, it's very power sensitive here, more so than Mexico.

"With the operating parameters, we ran a little lower. But of course it's a different challenge here, there's a lot more full throttle here than there is in Mexico."

[MIKA27]

Magnussen didn’t see Ricciardo in three-way clash with Vandoorne

Brazilian Grand Prix stewards have deemed the three-way collision on the opening lap at Interlagos’s Turn 2, which took Kevin Magnussen and Stoffel Vandoorne out of the race, to be a racing incident.

The crash transpired as three cars touched simultaneously at the second corner of the race. Vandoorne’s McLaren was sandwiched between the Haas of Magnussen (on the inside) and Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo (outside), and the contact between Magnussen’s left-front and Vandoorne’s right-front corners broke suspension arms on each car.

Ricciardo, in the meantime, was spun across the bows of both cars. Amazingly, he escaped with a cut tyre, and benefited from pitting under the safety car, which allowed him to restart at the back of the pack, from where he charged through to sixth.

“From my side, we were three-wide through the corner,” said Magnussen. “There was contact with Vandoorne who then had contact with Ricciardo. I broke my front suspension, so it wasn’t the best.

“If I’d realised earlier that Ricciardo was on the outside of Vandoorne, then perhaps I’d have given more room, but by the time I saw Ricciardo it was too late. I’d already carried the speed.”

Ricciardo added: “Into Turn 2 I knew it was going to be tight, but I thought it was a good chance from the start to overtake a bunch of cars, so I tried the outside – I was holding on, holding on, and then I felt a hit.

“Obviously I was worried that I had damage, I think the tyre had a cut, so we came into the pit to change that.”

Vandoorne rued his early exit after making a good start: “I had a very good launch, almost straight past the Force India and the Haas. It was very tight with Esteban [Ocon] and with Romain [Grosjean], nearly avoiding an accident there. We had a good first corner and then it bunched up.

“Unfortunately, I got squeezed in Turn 2. We were in the middle of a sandwich and there was nowhere to go for me. I was just a passenger. We had contact and that was an unfortunate end to our race.”

[MIKA27]

Why Ferrari can smile again after title defeat

James Allen gives his take on the Brazilian Grand Prix, as Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari bounced back from their disappointment in Mexico.

This was a good win for Ferrari, and a painful loss for Valtteri Bottas and Mercedes. They had defied expectations on Saturday by beating Sebastian Vettel to pole position, after the German had set the provisional pole time.

But on Sunday, the race was all about the start. Vettel got the better launch and that was enough to give him a run on Bottas, as the pole is on the outside at Interlagos.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen wasn’t able to make the attack into Turn 1 that we saw in Mexico because his fourth place grid slot is notorious for the double painted while start line that is just in front of the rear tyres. That takes the edge of the grip. 

So Vettel had control of the race in the opening stint and Bottas never looked like he had an answer.

Mercedes made a speculative attempt at an undercut on Lap 27 but the margin needed this weekend with these Pirelli tyres was very small, as little as 0.6s, so Vettel had it covered and pitted a lap later.

The win is Vettel’s fifth of the season, which is encouraging for the Scuderia as is the fact that they have produced a car capable of qualifying on pole and they’ve succeeded in developing it throughout the season.

As a benchmark for next year, that’s pretty good. All eyes will be on Mercedes to see whether they persist with the long wheelbase treatment or do something different for next year.

Red Bull is finishing the season strongly (even if here their engine deficit was more obvious) and will surely be in the hunt next season for regular wins.

Massa and Alonso roll back years as midfield battle delivers again

Felipe Massa had a disappointing race last year, crashing out his Williams in the rain, but today he put up a good fight against Fernando Alonso in the McLaren, holding him and Force India’s Sergio Perez off to the flag.

Massa started behind both on the grid, but got a good start and when Perez and Alonso had an altercation he was there to nip past Perez. He nailed Alonso at the restart after the Safety Car and McLaren didn’t try to undercut him at the pit stops. In fact Alonso came in a lap later.

Perez, meanwhile, tried to get back on terms with an odd strategy that saw him run longer than both, but he lost time and wasn’t able to do anything with the tyre offset he had.

Hamilton revels in the power of new engine

Lewis Hamilton certainly brightened up the race with a ferocious drive from the pit lane to fourth. He led for a while, the first time anyone has done that from a pit lane start since he did it himself in 2014.

He made many overtakes, thanks to having the opportunity to fit a ‘Series V’ engine, or at least a new unit which was not of the same specification as the previous one.

It was well worth it as it gave him great overtaking opportunities here and will set him up for a dominant weekend in Abu Dhabi, given that everyone else will be on the limit on engines at the end of the season.

At times, with everything turned up, he was as much as 25km/h faster than the car he was overtaking, with DRS and a tow.

It is rarer for a driver to get the chance to do that with the modern power-unit formula and next year they will have to be even more sparing with only three engines to last the season. 

His challenge for the podium foundered on two moments; the second time he had to pass Lance Stroll and lost time, and then repeated late-race lock-ups into Turn 1.

Although these were a sign that the supersoft tyres were beginning to go, they also took the edge off the attack on Raikkonen in the closing laps.

The Ferrari had better pace in the middle sector and that meant that Raikkonen started the long run up the hill with enough margin to keep Hamilton at arm’s length.

[avaldes]

Ughh....

Halos....hate them!!

Three engines....hate it!!

BS piping exhaust sound into the broadcast...hate it!!

I'm starting to think Nikki Lauda is right about the new owners. I actually think the new engine formula may not be too bad if they completely lifted the RPM limit and did away with the hybrid system. Yes I would prefer to go back to screaming V10's, but it sure seems like that ship has sailed. Perhaps there is hope for refueling in the future?

[MIKA27]

52 minutes ago, avaldes said:

Ughh....

Halos....hate them!!

Three engines....hate it!!

BS piping exhaust sound into the broadcast...hate it!!

I'm starting to think Nikki Lauda is right about the new owners. I actually think the new engine formula may not be too bad if they completely lifted the RPM limit and did away with the hybrid system. Yes I would prefer to go back to screaming V10's, but it sure seems like that ship has sailed. Perhaps there is hope for refueling in the future?

I'd be mega pleased if they brought back refuelling!!!!! It certainly mixed up the strategies.

[MIKA27]

WORLD’S FASTEST GAMERS COMPETE FOR MCLAREN F1 ROLE

McLaren’s next Formula 1 simulator driver could be a man who has never driven a car before, let alone competed on a real racetrack.

The 12-man shortlist for the job includes a Danish doctor who races on an iPad, a 41-year-old French father of two and a 23-year-old employee of Britain’s Department of Work and Pensions – who holds only a provisional licence

McLaren, the team of double world champion Fernando Alonso and past greats like Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost, are looking to tap talent from virtual racing to go faster in the real world.

The finals of the “World’s Fastest Gamer” competition are playing out at McLaren’s Woking headquarters this week and the winner will get a one-year contract to work in one of the team’s state-of-the-art simulators.

Some, like Dutch 23-year-old Bono Huis who collected a $200,000 (£152,366) jackpot in January after winning a virtual race between gamers and drivers of the Formula E electric series, are known names.

Others, like Danish doctor Henrik Christian Drue or French dad David Le Garff, are not. And nor is British civil servant Harry Jacks, who has yet to drive a real car.

McLaren say this is a serious search for someone who can become a real asset to a team fighting their way back from troubled times. They also feel the appointment will be good for business.

“We’re very committed to eSports,” says executive director Zak Brown, whose team recently became the first to appoint a director of eSports.

“For our entire marketing department, our technical team, it is another form of motorsport for McLaren. So we’re taking it very seriously. We’re very committed to it,” the American told reporters.

“We’re finding a lot of our partners…want to cross over and are very relevant to the eSport space. So we’re finding a lot of commercial interest in it.”

Formula One launched its own eSport world championship this year, with the finals scheduled for Abu Dhabi next week, but the McLaren competition is multi-dimensional.

Gamers are subjected to fitness and mental assessments as well as racing virtually on a variety of tracks from Indianapolis to Interlagos.

The competition is the brainchild of Darren Cox, whose Nissan GT Academy initiative took gamers out into the real racetrack with professional works drives, and taps into a demographic that Formula One has targeted.

“The average fan of motorsport and F1 is getting older,” said Cox.

“The audience for this, both in terms of the content and the competitors, is exactly where Formula One and other motorsports need to be. It’s that genius millennial demographic that everyone’s looking for and can’t find.”

The McLaren competition has shown also that reality and the virtual world are not so far apart. Formula One drivers Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen would not be surprised to see Britons and Dutch racers making up five of the final 12.

There are no women, as on the real Formula One grid, even if the virtual world should offer a level playing field for the sexes without any physical constraints. That is something organisers hope to change with time.

“There are a lot of female gamers. If you actually look at casual gaming, it is 50-50. It absolutely mirrors the population,” said Cox.

”Like in normal sport, it’s all about the amount of time you spend doing it. These guys are spending six to eight hours a day, six days a week, trying to be the best online gamer. At the moment there isn’t that big group of female gamers doing that.

“Somewhere in the region of 85 percent of people that play racing games are male. So therefore you have a bigger talent pool effectively.”

[MIKA27]

VERSTAPPEN: RENAULT SHOULD HAVE ENOUGH PARTS ON THE SHELF

Max Verstappen has taken a swipe at Renault by suggesting that the power unit supplier has run out of spare parts for their current engines which forced Red Bull to err on the side of caution at the Brazilian Grand Prix by turning the engine down for the race.

Reliability appears to have gotten worse for the Renault powered brigade, with numerous engine related failures in the past three races. Forcing the manufacturer to inform their customers to down-tune their engines.

With Renault focusing firmly on 2018, Verstappen accepts the reasoning but at the same time questions why the lack of spare parts.

Speaking to De Telegraaf, Verstappen said, “On the one hand I can understand that. But on the other, if you have so many problems with equipment during the season, then as a supplier you should have enough parts on the shelf.”

“That to me seems logical. Frustrating? Sure but we also have to accept it,” he added.

With engines turned down for the sake of reliability at Interlagos, Verstappen had no firepower at his disposal to take the fight to Ferrari and Mercedes, cruising home to fifth on a day when he was unable to provide any sort of attack or resistance.

He summed up his race in Sao Paulo, “During the entire race, I saw Ferrari and Mercedes, but as soon as we got on the straight, they just disappeared. We lost a lot on the straights and this was clear when Lewis [Hamilton] passed me. We didn’t have a chance.”

“It is very difficult, but the positive side is that during the first ten, fifteen laps of the stint, we were competitive, but then you ask a lot of the tyres…” he reflected.

The season comes to end, in a fortnight, at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix – a venue which Verstappen predicts will not suit Red Bull if they do not have more horsepower on tap.

“There are also long straights there. If they don’t turn up the engines, we won’t be able to do anything there. But it’s the last race, so we can finish it with fireworks. We’re going for it full speed ahead!” added the Dutchman who is sixth in the championship and will be hunting his third victory of the season at Yas Marina Circuit.

[MIKA27]

BRIATORE: IF FERRARI WANT TO WIN THEY NEED VERSTAPPEN

Flavio Briatore has weighed into the problems regarding Ferrari by declaring that if the legendary Italian team are intent on winning the Formula 1 constructors’ championship they need to hire Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.

In Sebastian Vettel they have a driver capable of winning and spearheading a title charge, but Raikkonen has simply not delivered anywhere near his teammate, a deal for another year with the team has been inked long ago ensuring the grumpy Finn remains in the team for at least another year.

Briatore believes that this is the wrong call by the powers that be at Maranello and told Corriere dello Sport, “I don’t know what [Sergio] Marchionne will do, he is unpredictable and wants to win, but with Raikkonen you will never win the constructors’ title. To win it you need two good drivers, and Ferrari does not have that.”

“In Singapore it was clear that Ferrari could beat a Mercedes. The drivers should have been told to work together. Vettel had to keep Verstappen at bay, with Raikkonen providing cover… the drivers need to be better managed, because things like that affected the whole team. This year Ferrari had a great chance to beat Mercedes, but they failed to do so.”

The comparisons between Raikkonen and Vettel during their time together at Ferrari are telling. The German has won eight times in three years, while the Finn has not won a single race during this period – last victory was at the 2013 Australian Grand Prix.

In the past three seasons Vettel has scored 792 points while Raikkonen has amassed 529 points. Perhaps Ferrari are still ‘paying back’ the Iceman for their last drivers’ title which he won for them a decade ago.

Briatore threw fuel on the fire when he suggested, “Verstappen to Ferrari? I would sign him with my eyes closed. He is the only real driver that people want to see. He’s a gladiator that they do everything to penalise in every race.”

The controversial Italian, former Renault team boss, also spoke of Lewis Hamilton’s season, “He is a great champion. This year he did very well, he was more motivated on track than going to nightclubs.’

Then mused, “Lewis in Ferrari? I do not think so, he cannot coexist with Vettel.”

It is well known that Briatore is a big fan of Fernando Alonso who he mentored and managed for most of the Spaniard’s career and he is adamant that in the right car the double F1 World Champion would have excelled.

“Alonso is still the best. He is always there even with half a car as he showed this year. He is the strongest and most consistent driver. With him and Vettel, Ferrari would have won the constructors’ championship this year,” opined Briatore.

[MIKA27]

Renault sacrificed performance for greater Brazil reliability

Renault admitted that it forewent pure performance at the Brazilian Grand Prix in its quest for greater reliability, having taken the wrong approach at the previous event in Malaysia.

Despite Max Verstappen’s triumph, Renault suffered a difficult time at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, with its weekend hampered by a lack of reliability, as four of its six cars retired.

In Brazil, all bar Brendon Hartley reached the chequered flag, with high oil consumption deemed culpable for his retirement.

However, Red Bull was unable to challenge the Ferrari/Mercedes quartet, with Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo fifth and sixth, while Renault pair Nico Hülkenberg and Carlos Sainz Jr. has a quiet run to 10th and 11th.

“Our focus was on reliability for this weekend and we saw three Renault-powered cars finish in the top ten and five cross the finish line,” said Renault Managing Director Cyril Abiteboul.

“This better reliability unfortunately came at the expense of performance, as were clearly running below our potential pace.”

Nico Hülkenberg added: “On the one side, it’s good to have finished the race, on the other side we did lack pace.

“I was pushing flat out, so it’s a shame we couldn’t do more.”

Hülkenberg’s point was his first since his sixth-place finish at the Belgian Grand Prix in August.

[MIKA27]

Drivers favour Ultrasoft tyre for Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Formula 1 drivers have overwhelmingly favoured Pirelli’s Ultrasoft tyre compound for the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix next weekend.

Pirelli nominated the Ultrasoft (purple), Supersoft (red) and Soft (yellow) tyres in order to deal with the demands of Yas Marina, with the bulk of sessions taking place at twilight.

All except the Renault drivers have picked nine or 10 sets of Ultrasoft tyres from their 13-set allocation, with the Soft compound all but abandoned.

As usual, one set of the Ultrasofts must be put aside for use only in Q3, while either the Supersoft or Soft must be run for one stint of the race.

[MIKA27]

Brazil Grand Prix - Video message from Seb after the win

 

[MIKA27]

VERSTAPPEN: WE HAVE ENOUGH STREET CIRCUITS ALREADY

Max Verstappen is keen for a Dutch Grand Prix to happen at some point in the future, but he hopes that the venue for the race will not be a street circuit as is being suggested in certain circles, the Red Bull driver clearly prefers traditional permanent race tracks.

Asked about his views regarding the prospect of a grand prix in his homeland, with Zandvoort a logical venue for the race, Verstappen said, “I think that it is possible. But it’s everything around the location that needs to be taken care of. The track its self could use some more straights, but that is not so extreme. But it would be difficult with run off areas, the infrastructure and the pit building.”

“Also the roads leading to the track, are packed. You need to find ways to solve that. Most importantly is how much needs to be paid in the end and how it will be financed,” added the Dutchman.

Zandvoort featured on the Formula 1 World Championship calendar from 1958 until 1985 (except for 1972) with Niki Lauda winning the last race at the venue for McLaren.

The legendary Assen circuit, which has hosted MotoGP for decades, is another option as are proposals for a street race in one of the major urban areas in the country.

But Verstappen is not keen on that idea, “We have enough street circuits already. You cannot overtake on them. I don’t find a street circuit as challenging as Spa or Suzuka. A real circuit is what I find best to drive on. During qualifying you can really hit the throttle. On a street circuit you always need to be somewhat cautious.”

The 20 year old’s record at Formula 1 street races – Monaco, Baku and Singapore – has hardly been stellar. His best result on temporary circuits was fifth place at Monaco earlier this year, while eight visits to city based venues in his three years in F1 have resulted in four DNFs.