Tag Archives: F1

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.”

Bernie Ecclestone has downplayed the efforts of the GPDA to give the drivers more of a voice in how the sport is run.

Last week the organisation sent an open letter outlining the views of the organisation’s members, but Ecclestone insists that they are only saying what the teams tell them to.

“They can say what they like,” said Ecclestone. “This is the whole thing. They can’t do anything. They can give an opinion, and everyone has got an opinion. It is really their discussions with their team, and the team has got a voice. They are only saying what the teams have told them to say. They think it is better. They think people listen to drivers – you are listening to them.”

Asked if he was surprised that the drivers had become vocal Bernie said that GPDA chairman Alex Wurz was responsible: “They’ve got this whathisname, this Austrian guy…”

Meanwhile Niki Lauda denied that the teams had anything to do with the contents of the letter, and also suggested that Wurz was the driving force.

“Mr Wurz got together and spoke in the name of all the drivers,” said Lauda. “The first time in his life. Another Austrian! This is all bullshit. This is Wurz alone, I can guarantee it. To Lewis you can’t speak anyway, you guys must know.

“But Wurz was the master of this. We had nothing to do with it. I was surprised that they spoke the same way as we do! Alex is not stupid, he’s OK. But he now seems to be the president or whatever he is, and starts talking.”