Monthly Archives: August 2013

Greenpeace protestors had a pretty good view of the race

Greenpeace launched a carefully co-ordinated attack on race sponsor Shell at the Belgian GP – and the organisation even managed to invade the podium ceremony.

Protestors managed to get on top of the main grandstand before the start, with four of them abseiling down to eventually reveal a 20m wide banner that read ‘Arctic Oil? Shell No!.’ The protestors remained in place, dangling from the roof of the grandstand, until after the race.

Another team struck on a Shell advertising sign at the top of Eau Rouge, while paragliders flew overhead.

Incredibly during the national anthems after the race two banners rose up seemingly from nowhere on the metal fence at the front of the podium, operated by remote control. They were hurriedly removed by Alex Molina, the man responsible for the podium ceremony, while the TV director focussed in on Vettel.

Meanwhile two protestors tried to interrupt the ceremony, with one of them abseiling down on the left while security tried to pull her back up. She was removed by security after the ceremony concluded. The pair had purchased VIP Paddock Club passes at a cost of several thousand euros.

The drivers had no idea what was happening, or why there was booing from the crowd under the podium.

Greenpeace later confirmed that the podium banners had been installed “several weeks ago,” and said that 35 people were involved in the action.

Clearly today’s events will lead to more stringent security measures in the future…

Sebastian Vettel took a step closer to his fourth World Championship title by scoring a dominant win in Belgium.

Vettel dragged past pole man Lewis Hamilton on the straight after Eau Rouge on the first lap, and thereafter was never under threat. He now has a 46 point advantage over his nearest rival, Fernando Alonso.

“Obviously very difficult around here to plan your start because first of all you need to have a good launch off the line and then there’s a long straight coming,” he said. “I tried my best to line up behind Lewis and basically benefit from a massive tow through Eau Rouge.

“I think especially in the opening lap when the tyres are not yet completely there and the fuel tank is full, Obviously the cars are quite heavy up the hill and produce a lot of drag and I was able, in the tow, to make up a lot of speed, and when I got side by side I had a lot of advantage over Lewis and was able to get straight ahead.

“So, yeah, it worked very well, what I was trying to, let’s say, plan at the exit of turn two. And after that I just tried to settle into the rhythm. I tried to open a gap to be flexible at the first stop and yeah, until the end we had incredible pace. We didn’t expect that.

“We knew, probably, going in that, in the dry, we should be able to beat Mercedes on the track but we knew other cars – Lotus, Ferrari – they looked very competitive in the dry, so in that regard we had massive pace, and could control the race until the end.”

Despite extending his lead Vettel insisted that he wasn’t yet thinking about the World Championship.

“For sure a positive message today, but I’m honestly more happy to win the race today: it’s a fantastic track and especially when the car works well, you don’t want the race to stop. The car is getting lighter and lighter and I was very comfortable at the end on the Primes. The car, as I said, was just a pleasure to drive.

“I didn’t think about the championship or points. Obviously I know the higher up you finish the better it is: ideally ahead of everyone else, which worked today. We’ve had good races here in the past, so it’s nice to have another one, another great memory today. So, that’s what honestly I was focussing on most. For sure, regarding the championship, it’s a bonus.”

Fernando Alonso may have finished a distant second to Sebastian Vettel at Spa, but the Spaniard was pleased to at least be back in the game after some frustrating races in July.

Alonso heads to Ferrari’s home race at Monza 46 points adrift of Vettel, but with 200 still available, he’s not out of the fight.

“I think the weekend was more or less good for us with recovering some feelings that we lost in July with the car especially,” he said. “We were a little bit more competitive – or we felt a little bit more competitive this weekend.

“Not for sure maybe for pole position, but to be in the first four or five positions on the grid, maybe that was possible but yesterday I think we were extremely unlucky with the situation in Q3, with weather and the track: where we were, in the place we were, at the time we were was wrong.

“So, unfortunately some times in these changeable conditions you are lucky, sometimes unlucky. I remember Malaysia very well in Q3, we were in the right place in the right moment, and we were second and third of the grid. Yesterday was a little bit the opposite. So we had to plan a perfect race from the start to the pace of the car, to the strategy and everything worked fine, and we could recover some places and extremely important for the championship also to get some good points again after three races [that were] not so good.”

Alonso said his title hopes are still alive: “Obviously we lost an extra seven points but when they are dominating the weekend, when they do everything better than us and they win the race, they deserve the win and we need to aim for maximum points. Weekends like this one, we need to extract the maximum from the car.

“That is what we did this weekend, all we could in qualifying, all we could in the race. In the race, once we were second we were two to four tenths slower per lap. When you are the second fastest, you deserve to finish second.

“So we just need to congratulate Sebastian, Red Bull and try to get better for Monza, but in terms of the championship, as I said, we came from two fifth places in Hockenheim and Hungary, with a little bit of a not good feeling and not good performance from the car, and today I think we recovered some of the optimism that we lost and I think it was a good weekend for the championship in terms of feeling and in terms of points as well.”

Lewis Hamilton surprised even himself with by taking a superb pole position in tricky conditions at Spa.

Hamilton, who only just scraped into Q3, was the last car across the line as the track began to dry. Belgium is his fourth pole in a row.

“It was obviously a good job by the team,” said Hamilton. “I was so surprised when I crossed the line. When I started the lap I saw on the screen that I was about seventh or eighth and I thought ‘Oh my God’, especially as it was raining more.

“I went wide in Turn One, and the dash display is usually telling you whether you’re up or down, and it said I was three seconds down and then five seconds and six seconds. So I didn’t understand what was happening in the lap, but I just kept pushing.”

Hamilton said he was happy with the form of the W04.

“I think generally I feel quite comfortable in changing conditions, and I feel I’m able to find the limits when the conditions are really on the edge. And in the middle I pushed quite a lot in the middle sector, particularly as I thought I was down three seconds, so I was really caning it. But, yeah, the car’s feeling good.”

Hamilton admitted that Mercedes would not have got pole in normal, dry conditions: “I would be guessing but my guess would be maybe not. The Red Bull was looking particularly quick and also the Ferrari was looking quite quick in the dry conditions, so I’m not necessarily sure that we had the pace to be as fast everyone today. But who knows, it’s just a guess.”

Nevertheless he’s confident that he has a good package for race day.

“I feel that the long pace is not bad. Last night we made some decent changes, but going into qualifying we made some better ones. Qualifying was more about just being there at the right time, and you never know when you’re going to be in the right position. And I just happened to be one of the last ones coming across the line and that’s when the track would be at its best.

“But I think Nico proved that the long run was good, and I think I had a few good laps as well, but the Red Bulls are still pretty quick. I think it’s going to be close but I hear it’s going to rain pretty heavily tomorrow.”

Pirelli is investigating the causes of right rear punctures that afflicted Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso in FP2, along with a series of cuts seen on other tyres.

Pirelli’s Paul Hembery believes that that something on the track was the likely cause in most cases, while also suggesting that a piece of debris was responsible for the Vettel problem.

Inevitably given the events of Silverstone and the high speed nature of Spa teams and drivers are looking for some reassurance from Pirelli.

“It looks on the Red Bull as if something has been rubbing on the surface and then cut straight through the surface,” said Hembery. “And on the Ferrari there are two quite clear holes through the top of the tread. We’ve got to go and look at the track later and see what’s been Turns 13 and 15.

“To be honest, I wouldn’t say it’s normal punctures, but it’s the sort of thing you’d see throughout the weekend. We’ve seen a lot of signs on other tyres as well with some surface cuts. There’s clearly something, although I can’t tell you what it is yet. It’s damage from external forces.

“To be honest it could be anything. Unfortunately, like in the case of Alonso, you’ve got two holes through the top. What on earth can cause that? You’ve got to go and find it, and that’s obviously what we want to do.

“We’ve seen some cuts on some other tyres, so there’s clearly something somewhere that’s causing an issue.”

Asked if it was a worry for Pirelli, he said: “It’s a worry for the sport because we have to go and find out what it is. There’s not a lot we can do. We’ll try our very best to identify it and give indications of what can be causing it.”

Elaborating on Vettel’s issue he said: “Something’s caught up between the floor and the tyre in that case.”

The FIA now monitors pressure and cambers, and Hembery insisted that everyone was running within the prescribed limits.

Jenson Button made it clear today that he doesn’t yet have a contract with McLaren for 2014 – but he insisted that he fully intends to stay on.

Nevertheless in theory he could still be a potential candidate for another team, such as Red Bull or Ferrari.

Button has an option to continue with McLaren, but when asked about his future he indicated that he didn’t know why there had been no confirmation from the team that he will be retained.

“I think I have a contract for next year, but I don’t think it’s got a signature on it yet!,” he said. “I really want to be here next year. You might think that’s strange after this season, but I think this season is good for us in a way. We’ll be a much stronger team this year. But as you say, you haven’t heard the confirmation of that yet from the team. I think you’ll have to wait for that.”

Asked by this writer if the real attraction was the arrival of Honda in 2015, he said: “Yeah, there’s a lot about this team in the future that appeals to me. It’s very exciting, there’s new challenges. But even next season, I’m excited about next year. You’ve got the initial challenges of the engine and trying to understand the car, and aerodynamics, and the power unit.

“If you put the time and the effort in I think it can make a big difference this winter, understanding the car and the tyres. It’s something I’m pretty good at, so hopefully it will make the difference next year.”

Meanwhile he made some interesting observations about other potentially available seats.

“I think Red Bull is done. I think the Ferrari seat is a great opportunity for any driver in F1, to get the opportunity to race for a team like Ferrari is very exciting, what they’ve achieved, the passion within the team, the culture is very interesting. Hopefully someone that deserves it will get the drive.”

Daniel Ricciardo insisted today that he has not been told that he has the Red Bull drive for next season – despite the consensus in the paddock being that the young Australian has got the nod.

However, the Toro Rosso driver’s body language definitely suggested that he’s expecting some good news, and even by his usual standards he had a big smile on his face today.

“I don’t honestly follow too much of the media hype – sorry guys!,” he said. “I’m on Twitter, so you see a few comments on Twitter. People write to me asking things, so then I become aware of maybe a few things that are going on. As far as I know, they could have happened, they could have not, it could just be one person starting a story.

“I can assure you I haven’t heard anything from the people next door. I’ve still got to keep my feet on the ground, keep pushing and try and get some results and boost my chances.”

Ricciardo believes that he’ll be in a position to challenge Sebastian Vettel next year, if he got the job.

“If it was too all go forward in my favour, I would expect that of myself. It’s not an easy task, and I wouldn’t expect anything like that to be easy. But I’m sure that even though he’s won three straight, it hasn’t been easy for him. It’s hard work but I’ll prepare and make sure I’m in the best position possible to make it all happen in a successful way.”

However, for the moment he’s keeping a lid on expectations: “Exactly. That’s why I’m not going to start celebrating and popping champagne until something is confirmed, signed, sealed, delivered, all the rest of it. I’ve still got my time here with Toro Rosso for this year, and that’s what I’ve got to focus on. Definitely no celebrations yet.”