Category Archives: F1

Red Bull Racing’s tyre struggles in the European GP were a result of the decision to run an ultra low downforce set-up, Christian Horner has admitted.

Both Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen had to offload their supersoft tyres in the opening laps and run a two-stop strategy, the pair eventually finishing seventh and eighth. In Canada they also had to go to two stops for tyre reasons while others made it to the flag on one.

Red Bull had traditionally run very low downforce at fast tracks to make up for a power deficit, and in the past it has paid off.

“We’re on a very fine edge trimming the downforce out of the car,” said Horner. “The first few laps we turned the tyre on very well. Daniel said, ‘I was easily able to stay with Nico, I was cruising, and then suddenly ‘bang,’ the rear tyres get into a lot of trouble.’

“You find that your window by doing that is very narrow, I think today’s temperature, trimming the downforce out of the car, perhaps the car then sliding a little too much has caused the rear graining. As soon as you get into that you’re in a world of pain.”

Asked if there was any connection with what happened in Montreal Horner said: “I think the only link is running in a window light on downforce you get yourself into a very narrow band. I think that’s probably the biggest lesson. There’ll be a lot of analysis that goes into it – I think that will be the lesson out of this weekend certainly in race conditions.

“I think that the configuration that we’ve ended up running the car in in order to be sensible on the straight we’ve put ourselves in a very narrow window. I think it’s accentuated here by the length of the straight and of course we’re on pretty much Monza downforce. You’ve only got to be a little bit out of that window and you’ve lost control of the tyre.”

The team also experienced some brake issues in Baku.

“Daniel was in a bit of trouble in the last 10 laps, the pedal went very long, I think because he had been following so closely for quite a few laps. The temperatures started to rage a little, just on the front left.”

Horner admits that the team’s home race could be difficult once again.

“Austria is going to be a challenge for us for sure. I think it’s in the top three power sensitive circuits. Maybe there will be a chicane on the straight this year! Thereafter we’ve got circuits which we know will come back towards us. It’s get through Austria with damage limitation before getting to the likes of Hungary, Silverstone, Hockenheim, etc.”

Lewis Hamilton has admitted that his poor performance in qualifying in Baku was because he failed to get into a rhythm and struggled under braking.

Hamilton ended up 10^th after making mistakes in all three sessions and finally clipping the wall in Q3. He said that changes to the set-up overnight had made the car more difficult under braking, but insisted that he was at fault.

“Not anything particular,” he said when asked about why his session went so badly. “Obviously braking, which everyone could see. These things happen. I don’t feel like I need to find an explanation, It was nothing to do with anyone else, it was just me not doing good laps. I was four-tenths up on both laps, so there’s no question I was quicker, I just didn’t finish the laps.

“The car was a little bit different yesterday. It was better on the brakes yesterday, and we made some changes. It wasn’t as good today, and I wasn’t able to brake in the same places as I was yesterday. And I didn’t adjust. It was my mistakes.”

He wouldn’t elaborate on those overnight set-up changes.

“I don’t know whether I’m permitted to say what changes they were, but it was a change that affected the car today. It didn’t feel the same as yesterday as I said. Still good enough for pole.

He added: “It’s not the car. I just couldn’t get into a rhythm today. It wasn’t just in qualifying, it was in practice as well. Just an off day, unfortunately. An expensive day, but an off day today.”

Mercedes will ask the FIA if it can change the front tyres he damaged in Q2 and on which he is suppose to start, although finding replacements won’t be easy.

“All my tyres are flat-spotted, all fronts. Honestly, I have no idea what they are going to do, you have to ask the team. I’m sure I’ll get by either way.”

Lewis says anything could happen in Sunday’s race, and even suggested that he could still win.

“I’ve seen GP2, but it just shows that lots can happen at this track, I can’t predict what’s going to happen tomorrow. It’s not even worth thinking about it, I’m just going to arrive tomorrow and see how it goes.

“I’ll see when I wake up. It’s really strange, you know. Every Sunday is always different. The last race I didn’t feel good before the race, just didn’t have a good feeling. I drove fantastic. Some days you feel great, and it goes bad, and then some days you feel bad, and it goes bad, some days you feel good, and it goes good. I have no idea how it’s going to be.

“The best thing I can do is try to look forward, no point in looking at the past, no matter how pissed off you’re going to be. I;ve got another opportunity tomorrow, I’ve got a good car, good pace, providing we can remain clean on track and not get caught up in other’s mistakes or make mistakes we should be able to get some good points tomorrow. It’s not impossible to win from where I am.”

Hamilton said that getting tyre temperature on safety car restarts – especially in the cooler conditions later in the race – could be a problem.

“It always is with these tyres, an it will be for sure. But everyone will be in the same boat. I think tomorrow safety cars could be a blessing for me. As you’ve seen in GP2 there’s a long, long way down to Turn One. It could be helpful. But I’ve got to get round the first God knows how many laps to even consider that first.”

Red Bull boss Christian Horner say he’s encouraged by the team’s performance in Montreal, despite losing out to both Ferrari and Williams in the race.

That came after Red Bull had clearly been the closest challenger to Mercedes in the previous two races. However Horner accepts that as a power circuit Canada was always going to be a tough one.

“If you look at our straightline speeds, they are a step in the right direction,” he said. “We have still got more to go, but for this circuit that is power dominated compared to 12 months ago when we were a lap or so behind, I think we were 1.5 seconds off in qualifying last year, this year we are three tenths away. So I think it really is a step in the right direction. There will be some tracks, Ferrari will be a bit stronger and hopefully we will have days where we are stronger than them as well.

“I think there will be races that are closer than others. The likes of race tracks like Budapest, Silverstone, Singapore, Japan, probably Malaysia. Those kind of circuits it could be really pretty tight. I think the fact that there were only three and a half tenths between ourselves and the pole here, does bode well. Mercedes still has the upper hand and an advantage but Ferrari look strong today and I think in the right conditions we are not too far off them.”

Horner said tyres were the key in Montreal, and neither driver was able to match the one-stop strategies run by Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas.

“To be honest the conditions today, we were not within the right window on the tyre. It was 16-degree circuit temperature and we just got into more trouble at the end of the stints and didn’t quite have the range that certainly the Mercedes and Williams had. Ferrari was difficult to see with the strategy to see if they had that kind of range.

“I think that those cars traditionally put a bit more energy into their tyre and on a cold day like today that has assisted to get the tyre into the right working temperature. So, basically, Max having got into third at the start, he dropped off the back of Lewis and Seb with Daniel line astern.

“So when we pitted on lap 21/22 our ambition at that stage was to one-stop until the end of the race in a similar fashion to what you have seen Bottas do, and Lewis. With Max, he started going off okay but it wasn’t a wear issue, it was a graining issue particularly with the front left. It started to eat up that front tyre so then pitted again for the ultra soft, and again he started the stint okay and started to close on Valtteri and the tyre as you can see, it degraded again. But what is impressive is how he defended against Rosberg.”

Daniel Ricciardo insists that he has put the disappointment of Monaco behind him after talking things through with the Red Bull team.

Ricciardo says he waited a few days before talking to the team management and engineer about the botched pit stop.

“I gave it a few days to cool off,” said the Australian. “I definitely felt after the race that I wasn’t in a place, probably no one was in a place, to try to resolve what happened. For me it just get away for a few days and then address what happened once we’d cooled and settled. So I spoke to various people in the team and they basically explained what happened at the time and the situation. It was obviously important to hear the explanation but I think more important how to move on from it and how to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

“They’d done a lot of things since then back at the factory and they have set up some new parameters and things that will happen during pit stops and before pit stops to make sure that these things don’t happen again and to make sure that tyres are ready and that various compounds are ready at once.

“Obviously from my side now I’ve moved on. I knew they were going to take it seriously because it was obviously a big disappointment for all of us, but I’ve been assured that if we’re in that position again then it won’t happen, so that was obviously what I needed and what I wanted to hear.”

Ricciardo said that taking time out before discussing the issues had paid off.

“I was happy to keep some distance for a few days. For myself as well, it probably wasn’t healthy to just address it straight away. For sure, for a few days I was upset I guess, and obviously ruing some missed opportunities – but it’s one of those things: it happens; it’s unfortunate it happened back-to-back. That, how do I say, expanded the feelings and the emotion a lot more. I’ve moved on. I’ve still obviously got a lot of faith in the team and I don’t doubt things with them moving forwards.

“For me it’s obviously really important this weekend to execute a perfect weekend from my side and from the team’s side and get back on track. Because obviously we’ve shown we have a good car, we’ve got good material. It’s just trying really to maximize it. The last four weekends I’ve left Sunday feeling I should have got more. This weekend it’s just to try leaving on Sunday knowing that we’ve maximized everything from both sides.”

Ricciardo admitted that the team’s form has been better than expected, and he rued the lost points.

“I probably didn’t expect to be third in the Championship but after so many races in. We’ve seen no points in Russia, and could have got more in China without the puncture, and the last two races, we we’d be very close to the front of the Championship right now.

“So, you know, I’m still not looking at that yet. I would love to be in a position in a few races time and say yeah, we can fight for a title this year. I think that would be a pretty nice, unexpected fight and story for F1. I think this race will be pretty telling. If we can be competitive here, you never know. It’s still a long-shot, for sure, but if we can be competitive then sure I believe in myself that I can fight and do what I’ve got to do to put myself in a position come the end of the year.”

Pastor Maldonado made his first appearance at a 2016 Grand Prix weekend in Monaco as he continues to work on a return to F1 with the help of manager Nicolas Todt.

The Venezuelan lost his Renault seat to Kevin Magnussen after issues with his main sponsor PDVSA.

“We started a few weeks ago, and we’re here working around and trying of course to be back next year,” he told this website. “I should have even more sponsors. I think the chances are quite high, so let’s do our best and try to put a good package together to be in a good team, and try to be always in the points, and not a lot of problems as I’ve been having in the past. There is a good chance – there is movement around, so we’ll see.

“PDVSA isn’t the only company in Venezuela. For sure it’s maybe the most important one, but we’re suffering now because there’s an oil crisis around the world, and the oil price is very down now. It seems like it’s coming up, and that will help the country.”

Maldonado has been keeping his eye in by conducting 2017 F1 tire testing for Pirelli.

“I feel ready. I’ve been driving a lot with Pirelli with a modified GP2 car. I’ve been to Mugello and Barcelona, trying construction and compounds. Now the next step is to transfer that to the wider tires.”

He insists that F1 is his priority: “At the moment yes, but for sure we will work on a Plan B, but at the moment we don’t have anything clear. We’ll see, maybe Indy, LMP1 or DTM. There are a few choices. We are quite open at the moment.”

Renault has had to fast-track the build of a new chassis for Jolyon Palmer to use in Montreal after the Englishman’s heavy crash in Monaco.

Palmer’s accident on the pit straight was one of a series through the weekend involving both drivers, and which left the team with a lot of damaged parts. Fortunately a new chassis was already in the completion stages in the factory, and that has now been rushed into action.

“Kevin’s incidents mainly damaged bolt-on parts whereas Jolyon’s incident means we will use a new chassis – R.S.16-04 – for Montreal,” said technical director Nick Chester. “The car hit the barriers quite hard at an oblique angle which damaged the front of the chassis, and since we have a new chassis available it makes sense to introduce it. Fortunately, 04 was pretty far along on its build so we only needed to complete fuel cell installation and wiring for it to be ready for Canada.”

Meanwhile Palmer thanked the team and said that he suffered bruised feet in the incident.

“We went over the data and it looks like it was the lower grip as I crossed the white lines of the zebra crossing,” he said. “Which meant my wheels spun as I pushed to accelerate. The car was pitched sideways and I collected the barriers. It was just the wrong place at the wrong time. I had a bit of bruising on my feet, so it was just my ego and the car that had to suffer.

“I have been in Enstone since Monaco, to get some time in the sim but I did also offer to get the spanners out to help build the new chassis! I’m very grateful for all the hard work that goes in at the track and back in Enstone and Viry and I did more than my fair share of damage to the car in Monaco.”