Circuits

24th May 20173rd July 2017

Monaco Grand Prix, Let the Party Begin

GP MONACO F1/2016 – MONTECARLO 29/05/16
© FOTO STUDIO COLOMBO PER PIRELLI MEDIA (© COPYRIGHT FREE)

The famous race of Monaco is taking place this weekend in Monte Carlo, a race which almost every motorsport driver wants to participate and win it, it is like Indy 500 and Le Mans. It is not a very demanding circuit for the cars, but requires high concentration from the drivers. There is no space for overtaking and any mistake might be crucial for the driver and the car.

The king of Monaco is Ayrton Senna with six victories, followed by the Mr.Monaco and Michael Schumacher who have won the race five times.

Monaco Grand Prix is one of the oldest circuit on Formula One’s calendar, the first race held in 1950 and traditionally the first two free practice sessions held on Thursday instead of Friday.

Lewis Hamilton holds the lap record with 1:17.939. Last year, Lewis stopped Rosberg’s domination in Monaco, the German have won the Monaco Grand Prix for three consecutive times, but the Brit despite that he started the race third, behind Daniel Ricciardo and Nico Rosberg, managed to take the chequered flag and celebrate a victory in Monte Carlo. The race started behind the safety car due to a rain which occurred before the race.

Daniel Ricciardo finished second behind Lewis Hamilton, followed by the Mexican driver, Sergio Perez, who secured a podium finish for Force India.

Circuit De Monaco

Number of Laps: 78

Circuit Length: 3.337 km

Race Distance: 260.286 km

Lap Record: 1:17.939 (Lewis Hamilton – 2016)

Tyre allocations: Ultrasoft (Purple), Supersoft (Red), Soft (Yellow)

Jenson Button will cover Fernando Alonso’s absence, who decided to take part in the Indy 500 and qualified 5th. The British driver will return to Formula 1 after a few months of absence and he will be able to complete some laps with the MCL32 during the free practice sessions before the race on Sunday.

“It feels slightly surreal to be back in the cockpit for the Monaco Grand Prix, when the call came from Eric, there was no hesitation. It’s a totally unique situation and a great opportunity. I’m looking forward to stepping back behind the wheel for one of the most crazy, unpredictable and exciting races of the year.”

Button promised to Alonso that he will do his best to look after his car. Alonso misses the Monaco Grand Prix for the first time since 2001.

Monaco is a good opportunity for McLaren to score their first points of 2017, it will be interesting to see if Button will manage to do that in his 2017 debut with McLaren-Honda.

Monte Carlo will also give the chance to Red Bull to try to secure their first victory of the season, as it is a track which is not suitable for overtaking, so the qualifications plays a critical role every year.

Max Verstappen – “There is no such thing as a low risk lap in Monaco, it doesn’t exist if you want to be fast because you have to be on the limit. Last year’s crash was very unfortunate but it doesn’t affect my confidence heading back there, it just makes me want to do better this year and learn from my mistakes. We still have a lot to learn from the car in terms of setup as it is always developing and we haven’t driven it on a tight street circuit yet. Preparation for Monaco is a little different, you definitely build up a little bit slower throughout the weekend and pace yourself. It’s important to find the limit carefully. With the new cars I think the chicane around the swimming pool will be the most challenging corner this year.”

Daniel Ricciardo – “In theory I could walk to work while we are in Monaco, it is still a bit of a way but it could be done. Luckily for me though we get boats to the Energy Station which is a nice change. Being able to sleep in your own bed and complain about the noise is also a treat. Monaco is definitely my favourite track to drive, it is so tight and intimidating. From the outside some of the sequences look impossible to go through at the speeds we do. Once you are in the car it’s an amazing feeling. If you kiss the wall it actually makes you want to do it again as opposed to scaring you. The whole spectacle of the weekend just makes it something unique and special.”

Victor Archakis- @FP_Passion

Images Courtesy of Pirelli F1 Media

1st May 20173rd July 2017

Totally Toro Rosso in Russia

Formula 1

May 1, 2017

Before we talk about the Russian Grand Prix weekend let’s have a quick recap of what our drivers did last time out in Bahrain. Bahrain was a really disappointing race for Toro Rosso: we were expecting a lot but Sainz made contact with Lance Stroll moments after his pitstop and ended his race, and Kvyat finished in twelfth after struggling with pace in the race, meaning we come away from Bahrain empty-handed.

After the Grand Prix we had a two-day in-season test, this hopefully would give us chance to gather more data and test new parts. First day our test driver Sean Gelael took to the track and completed 78 laps. Here’s what he had to say:

“Today is a day I will never forget—to finally drive a Formula One car is something every driver dreams of, and to do it with Scuderia Toro Rosso makes it even more special. The power and overall grip is amazing…compared to the Formula Two car I drive.”

On day two our two regular guys took over—Kvyat drove in the morning and did 61 laps, and Sainz later in the day completed 68 laps.

Talking ahead of the Russian Grand Prix, Kvyat said: ”The first thing that comes to my mind is Sebastian, as in Sebastian Vettel. I like to torpedo Sebastian, it’s my hobby. You know I’m joking!” Kvyat also added a picture of himself riding a torpedo to his helmet design this weekend just to continue the joke.

Sainz added: “I’ve learnt a few Russian words thanks to my team mate, Daniil. I think it’s best that I don’t tell you which words he’s taught me…”

On Wednesday it was Daniil’s 23rd birthday and he got to celebrate it in his home country, while learning how to play curling with the Russian national team, which he said he really enjoyed and liked trying new things.

Later that day Kvyat also presented his book, Daniil Kvyat: The Path to Formula One, all about the early stages of his career. As soon as the English version is released I will be purchasing it.

Pavel Sukhorukov / Red Bull Content Pool

Thursday arrived and it was time for the track walk on a sunny afternoon. Sainz posted a video on Twitter talking about the hairstyles of his race engineers while on the walk, and when they returned to the garage it was time for a huge chocolate birthday cake for Kvyat.

Later that day Kvyat joined Bottas and Grosjean at the drivers’ press conference to face the world’s media, before taking to the stage to speak to his home fans. Meanwhile, Sainz was back onto autograph duty.

Friday arrived and it was time for free practice. In FP1 home hero Kvyat finished eleventh and Sainz fourteenth, and in FP2 Sainz was fifteenth and Kvyat seventeenth. Both drivers were disappointed and said the car was lacking a lot of speed.

On Saturday Sainz ended FP3 in ninth with Kvyat thirteenth. With both drivers still unhappy but with little time to make changes we head into qualifying. Our boys ended in eleventh and thirteenth with Sainz coming out on top, but his three-place grid penalty from Bahrain dropped him to fourteenth and moved Kvyat up to twelfth for his home race. Both drivers said they were much happier with their qualifying positions than their Friday pace.

Sunday meant race day, and with Kvyat starting twelfth and Sainz fourteenth points would be tough but still the aim. As the lights went out Sainz made the better start up to eleventh while Kvyat held onto twelfth place, and in the early laps both boys were looking good.

After the pit stops the race calmed right down and nothing much happened for our boys in the remaining laps: Daniil ended the race where he started in twelfth, but Carlos took a point in tenth. Both drivers struggled with race pace and overtaking was difficult this weekend, but to leave Russia with one point was better than we left Bahrain.

Afterwards, Sainz commented: “What a tough race, especially as we were starting from behind because of the grid penalty… But today we got everything right: the start, the first lap, the pit-stop, the strategy…so we can be happy!”

Kvyat added: “My start today wasn’t the best and I lost a bit of time there. During my pit stop we…got undercut by Stroll and during my second stint I was unfortunately blue-flagged quite a lot and lost some more time having to let the leading cars by.

“On a positive note, the last part of the race in clean air, was fantastic—we were flying and the car felt great!”

Richard Hindson, F1 Correspondent

27th April 20173rd July 2017

Haas F1 Russian Grand Prix Preview

Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir, Bahrain.
Sunday 16 April 2017.
World Copyright: Sam Bloxham/LAT Images
ref: Digital Image _W6I2713

Next up for round 4 the Sochi Autodrom, a 5.848-kilometer (3.634-mile), 18-turn circuit. Despite it’s complete lack of camber or elevation change, it reminds me of a nice roller coaster that weaves through the stunning architecture of the Winter Olympics and down the coast of the black sea. It will be interesting to see how the cars go at this circuit it could either be good racing or a repeat of Melbourne. I think there is just enough variation to the track that we are going to see a very good race though. Weather conditions will be good. The circuit varies between what are essentially long straights interrupted by short corners in sector 1 whereas sector 3 is very slow and takes much more life out of the tyres. In this sense it will be important to manage the tyres properly in sector 1 so they’re not dead by sector 3.

However, the tarmac is very smooth here and has what’s called a “low macro roughness” meaning there is a very low degradation for the tyres. In 2014 Rosberg did the entire race minus one lap on one set of White Medium tyres. With that partly in mind Pirelli have gone down one level of softness for tyre options this year and will now offer the Soft, Supersoft, and for the first time Pirelli P Zero Purple Ultrasofts.

The current track record at the Sochi Autodrom is 1:35.417, set last year by Mercedes Nico Rosberg in Q3 but this record will likely be broken in the free practice sessions possibly even the first. A non-Mercedes car has never won at this track either now in it’s 4th year of running, so Haas will be hoping Ferrari power has made an improvement at this circuit. Grosjean’s has qualified P8 in 2015 with a best result of P8 in 2016 while Magnussen’s best qualifying in 2016 started him 11th with a best result of P5 in 2014.

Romain Grosjean

“A lot will depend on the temperature. The tarmac in Bahrain is very rough. It’s very smooth in Russia…I do quite like the fast turn three. It’s a very high-speed corner, flat out, then just going into turn four, coming out of the corner, then braking straight away for turn four. I think the corners flow into each other quite nicely. It’s a good track to drive.”

Kevin Magnussen

The Sochi Autodrom seems to emulate Bahrain in terms of setup. How much of what you learned in Bahrain can be transferred to the Russian Grand Prix?

“I think you learn every weekend more and more about the car. You get a better understanding overall, which is going to help everywhere…I like turns six, seven and eight as they’re high speed.”

UPDATE: Haas to start Russian GP weekend with Carbon Industrie brakes

Carbon Industrie brakes will be used by Haas at the start of the Russian Grand Prix weekend. Carbon Industrie brakes were first tested by Haas in 2016 at Brazil and will again be tested as the team struggles to get the performance out of Brembo brakes which caused frustration during the second half of 2016 for the team.

Because they ran Brembo brakes during winter testing, they were forced to start the season with them due to new Formula 1 rules. However, after positive driver feedback from Bahrain testing of Carbon Industrie brakes Haas has decided to start FP1 in Sochi on them after which they will make their decision for the race.

By Jeremiah Doctson

(Image Courtesy of Pirelli F1 Media)

27th April 20173rd July 2017

MotoGP Americas GP Review – Captain America is an Understatement

The Americas Grand Prix – for the fifth consecutive season – went to Marc Marquez, as the Spaniard took his first victory of the season in scorching weather conditions on Sunday afternoon. The Repsol Honda team achieved their first podium of the season and their first double podium since the Catalan Grand Prix last season, with 1st and 3rd. Splitting the two Hondas was Movistar Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi, who not only took 2nd and his best ever result at COTA but also the lead of the championship for the first time since Malaysia 2015. 2017 is already looking like a season we will cherish.

As the lights went out, it was formation flying into turn one for Repsol Honda, with Dani Pedrosa leading Marc Marquez through the first few turns. Valentino Rossi was in 3rd with the likes of Jorge Lorenzo moving through from row two to challenge him, taking series leader Maverick Vinales for 4th.

Following all the squabbling, a shock was about to rock COTA. Coming through turn 18, Maverick Vinales crashed out in a shower of sparks, throwing his M1 Yamaha into the Texan dirt for his first DNF of the year. The Spaniard looked like he had been rattled all weekend, following a fallout with teammate Rossi in qualifying and a dual with Marquez for pole position. Either way, he cost me £15 after I backed him to break Marquez’ stranglehold on the circuit.

This promoted reigning double Moto2 champion Johann Zarco to fourth, immediately giving the Frenchman hope for a podium challenge. However, with 15 laps to go, Rossi and Zarco would have their first fallout of the season. After a slight mistake by the 9-time champion at turn one, Zarco got a better run through the fast turn two, before pouncing on Rossi at turn three. Valentino, maintaining the racing line through the turn two and three section, was forced to take evasive action as the Frenchman barged his way in. Not too long after, Rossi was handed a 0.3 time penalty which was to be added on to his time at the end of the session, having gained time on Pedrosa up ahead – although in the eyes of many, it was involuntary course cutting. The incident continued in the post-race press conference, with Valentino saying that “the problem is Zarco”. More on that as the season unwinds.

By this time, Marc Marquez had taken the lead away from Dani Pedrosa and had began to clear off into the distance. Pedrosa did take another stab at retaking the lead at turn 12, but ran wide on exit and allowed Marquez to hold on, which was how it remained to the end.

Further down, there was a big scrap between Iannone, Miller, Petrucci and Lorenzo. Iannone took his best result on the Suzuki thus far with 7th, ahead of Danilo Petrucci who beat Lorenzo and Miller – the Australian starting the year with three top 10 placings.

There was a high number of crashers in the race, with Loris Baz, Sam Lowes, Karel Abraham and Alvaro Bautista all hitting the floor, with Pol Espargaro retiring his KTM, as well as Aleix Espargaro having numerous problems with the Aprilia. Alvaro did remount to gain 1 point.

Cal Crutchlow caught and passed Johann Zarco to take 4th place and remain 5th in the championship after his podium in Argentina. Zarco finished 5th with his joint best finish in the premier class.

The battle for 2nd however was yet to be settled. Valentino Rossi was closing on Dani Pedrosa and in the closing laps, he took the 2nd place on the road. He eventually pulled clear by over two seconds to take second ahead of the former double 250cc champion.

In the end though, Marc prevailed and what a sensational way to kick-start his season too! He’s flying high but as Wayne Rainey once said, “It’s the start of the ground war” when we hit Europe. Jerez is the next round and you can be sure to tune in to see who will be our Spanish Grand Prix winner. Rossi won there last season and will be looking to repeat the feat.

The gap at the top of the championship tree is a mere six points, with Vinales slotting into 2nd. 12 points further back is Marc Marquez and then it’s the first Ducati, in Andrea Dovizioso – already 26 points down on Rossi.

The next race is Jerez and as ever, there will be unrivalled coverage across the weekend, with qualifying, warm-ups and race day commentary on Twitter as well as a shed load of content flying fresh off the press online!

Kiko Giles @MotoGPKiko

26th April 20173rd July 2017

Russian Grand Prix, Can Mercedes Beat Ferrari?

SOCHI (RUSSIA) – 01/05/2016
© FOTO STUDIO COLOMBO PER PIRELLI MEDIA (© COPYRIGHT FREE)

A crucial weekend for the Formula One teams and drivers is coming. The crews are traveling to Sochi for the Russian Grand Prix, the fourth race of the season. Sochi autodrom joined the Formula 1 calendar in 2014 and for the first time, the drivers will be able to use the ultrasoft tyre compounds.

In Bahrain, Sebastian Vettel with his Ferrari took the chequered flag and celebrated the second victory of the season. Lewis Hamilton finished behind the German driver and in Russia, he will have the chance to win for the second time this year if that happens Hamilton will equal Vettel’s points in the championship.

Sochi Autodrom

Laps: 53

Track Length: 5.848 km

Race Distance: 309.745 km

Lap Record: 1:39:094 (Nico Rosberg – 2016)

Tyre Compounds: Ultrasoft (Purple), Supersoft (Red), Soft (Yellow)

The circuit is located in Sochi and was designed by the famous F1 architect Hermann Tilke, circuit’s capacity is 55,000 and it is consists of 12 right and six left corners.

“Sochi is a really nice track to drive and it’s a race I enjoy a lot. In the past it’s a track we have done well at – I finished fourth and fifth in 2014 and 2015 – so I’m hoping we can have another good race there this year. The event has been getting bigger every year so I’m really looking forward to going back again.” Felipe Massa said, who turned 36 the past week.

Track’s formation will give an advantage to Mercedes, as it is not a very demanding circuit for the tyres and the 650 metre straight will allow the silver arrows to reach a speed around to 332 km/h.

“It’s very good to see people talking positively about Formula One. Clearly, the close fight between Ferrari and Mercedes is something that is interesting for the fans. It’s interesting for us too. This is why we go racing – because we’re racers and we thrive on the competition and the battle. It’s a totally different kind of track this weekend in Sochi and, in this season with these new regulations, you can’t take anything for granted. The trophies of previous years don’t guarantee that we’ll be winning in Russia when you have a very fierce competitor like we do in Ferrari. We’ll take it one step at a time, start the weekend well and hopefully have a good result on Sunday.” Toto Wolff added about the upcoming race.

Ferrari proved that they can match Mercedes’ pace and stay close to the silver arrows. It will be interesting to see if Scuderia can win two races in the row which will give them a big advantage in the championship. Whilst Mercedes has to respond to Ferrari’s pace and win the fourth race of the season in order to stay close to the Italians.

Join PitCrew’s live coverage on Sunday, starts 30 minutes before the race.

Victor Archakis F1 Editor – @FP_Passion

(Images Courtesy of Pirelli F1 Media)

26th April 20173rd July 2017

Who will win in SilverMonaco?

Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir, Bahrain.
Sunday 16 April 2017.
World Copyright: Charles Coates/LAT Images
ref: Digital Image _27I8921

Welcome to the fourth round of the season, Sochi, Russia. A circuit that I like to call SilverMonaco, because I see a lot of Silverstone in the first part and a lot of Monaco in the final, in this beautiful racetrack we should see another intriguing battle for victory.

Now we know for sure that Ferrari has closed the gap to Mercedes. Now they are side by side. Only in qualifying the Brackley-based squad has a little advantage still. After the brilliant pole position achieved by Bottas in Bahrain, Lewis Hamilton will be determined to re-establish his dominance of the team. The driver was really surprised by his team mate’s performance but he was happy to find a competitive Sebastian Vettel too. I think even against himself, every driver, including an arrogant Lewis, prefers to fight against another driver to win the title instead of a lone run towards it.

I think there is a regardable difference between the two drivers of Mercedes and Ferrari. I mean that, while at Mercedes Bottas can be at Lewis’ pace in qualifying, for now, at Ferrari we still see a too slow Kimi Raikkonen. I am sincere, I’ve never thought the Finn was a great driver. He’s good if he has a perfect car but he always struggles to find the right set up, he makes many mistakes while driving, sometimes it seems Kimi loves to stay in the shadows. So what I suggest to Ferrari is to change their second driver next year. Constructor championship is important as well.

I think the future is already here and his name is Max Verstappen. Everybody knows he is the most talented driver now, considering his age. And every top team would love to have him on board. Ferrari should think about him. The Dutch driver impressed a lot (again) in China and he is doing a lot more than his Red Bull can allow this year.

Sochi is a high skill level circuit. The walls are really close to the track in some corners. So no mistakes are needed and the drivers will have to preserve their brakes which are the most stressed part of the car here. Danil Kyvat, the local hero, is called to take a little bit of revenge here after his bad start to the season and thinking about the 2015 Grand Prix when he eliminated Vettel by touching him twice.

We hope for a clean race for the Russian and a lucky one for Sebastian, in order to see a spectacular battle with Mercedes. Williams and Red Bull are expected to be finally closest to the top teams but nothing will change in the midfield, I guess. Mclaren Honda should have a new spec engine in Sochi, so we are all curious, and hopeful, to see where they will be on the grid and on the last lap of the race, also hoping that Fernando Alonso will not think too much about other Honda-powered cars!

Massimo Trapanese

(Image Courtesy of Pirelli F1 Media)