Dear Max,
What a staggering talent you are! Since your first season at Toro Rosso, you´ve made a huge impression on me. Many people thought, that you were too young for Formula 1, but I had a hunch, that there was something unique and extraordinary about you. And I have to say, that you haven´t let me down in terms of your talent and skills!
I was overwhelmed with happiness, when I read about your promotion from Toro Rosso to Red Bull. Although I felt kind of sad for Kvyat, I thought you really deserved this chance. This was your chance to shine -which you did dazzlingly from the very first race with your new team. Who could have thought that you were going to win the Spanish GP at the wheel of the RB12? Before your move to Red Bull, I had admired you kind of secretly, but after the first victory I couldn´t help telling officially about my admiration for you. I was a bit afraid, that you may have got too much too soon -but then came Monaco GP and all the crashes to the wall. I was sure the Monaco GP was a healthy lesson about how fleeting success can be -and that it can never be taken for granted.
You really stand out of the crowd. You have exceptional talent and true passion for racing. Your driving style is risky but passionate and courageous. You race from all your heart, which I truly admire. You divide opinions, which is a sign of being exceptional. There has been a lot of talk about your defensive moves in recent races; some of them have been in "the grey area" in terms of the rules. As long as you haven´t been taken into investigation by the stewards for your moves, I have thought you are only putting up an entertaining show for the fans. Even though you ended up in a collision with my two other favourite drivers yesterday, I was ready to defend you publicly in my blog. I felt so bad, as I saw Twitter being full of angry and hatred-filled tweets about your driving...
Today I don´t know what to think. I logged in on Facebook after work and I saw many news about your post-race comments. According to Motorsport.com you have stated, that both Kimi and Sebastian should be ashamed to have caused such a collision, being as experienced as they are, and then complaining about your actions. I also read you having stated, that had there been no collision in Turn 1, you wouldn´t have been so aggressive later or or forced Kimi off track. I know media often rips sentences out of the context, but have you really stated this way? If you have, I am utterly shocked!
You´re still very young; yet you have achieved many things, which many can only dream about. Exceptional talent and success bring great responsibility as well. Formula 1 world is ruthless, and it´s easy to let all the success go into your head. From the bottom of my heart I hope you won´t ever let that happen! I hope you always manage to keep your feet firmly on the ground and not let the shining success change you into something you´re not. You´re amazing on track, but it doesn´t justify arrogant comments or revenge on track. I work at a kindergarten, and even pre-school children are taught not to hit back if someone hits you first! Even with huge talent, you have to earn your respect on track. Arrogant comments destroy that respect... There's only a very fine line between courage and stupidity.
You may be in a turning point in terms of your F1 career. There´re lessons to be learned. The ball is in your hands; I hope you´ll make the right choices. You´ve millions of fans, who look up to you as a role model. I am one of them. You have all the talent and the skills to become a world champion one day -so act like one!
Yours sincerely,
Iina Huhmarniemi
your Finnish fan
P.S. I would be forever grateful, if you had time to read my letter and write a reply to your fans. Thank you so much. Wishing you all the best!
Kimi Räikkönen & Sebastian Vettel
maanantai 29. elokuuta 2016
sunnuntai 28. elokuuta 2016
Belgian GP: Turn 1 from a horror film!
What a start the Belgian GP had! Kimi got an excellent start from P3, and the Finn was determinedly challenging the Red Bull teenager Verstappen into Turn 1. Max was in the inside and Kimi in the outside, when suddenly Kimi´s teammate Sebastian turned in and hit his teammate! Kimi had nowhere to go and he couldn´t avoid hitting Verstappen as well. Oh gosh, it was like a horror film scene -all my three favourites hitting each other! Kimi´s front wing was seriously damaged and he had to limp into the pits. In the pits there were flames coming from the floor of Kimi´s SF16-H and the team had difficulties to get the new front wing changed. Íceman´s race was practically ruined! What was Sebastian thinking when turning into Turn 1?
On the opening lap Toro Rosso´s Sainz´s rear tyre exploded and his car suffered severe damage. Virtual safety car was deployed, as there was a lot of debris on the track. Rosberg was leading the race and teammate Hamilton had already jumped 12th after starting from the back row. Kimi on the other hand was down in P19. The race didn´t look too good for the Iceman... The other Finn Bottas, who had also started to the race on the super soft Pirellis, was now in P4.
After the virtual safety car the race was on only for a couple of laps, until there was another incident. Renault´s Magnussen hit the kerb on the top of Eau Rouge and lost control of his car, which lead into a massive shunt into the barriers. Magnussen´s car turned into a total wreck, so it was a small miracle that the Dane didn´t get badly hurt. He got a wound on his ankle but got out of the car on his own. Safety car was deployed, which started the pit stop roulette. Kimi came in for a fresh set of soft tyres. Williams, on the other hand, decided to call Bottas in not until a lap later, which turned out to be a wrong call, as the Finn lost many positions and dropped down to P12.
Some four laps later the race was red-flagged, as there was so massive damage in the tyre barrier after Magnussen´s crash. All cars pitted and waited for the restart. Verstappen stepped out of his RB12 and rushed to the pit wall to explain, what had happened in the first-lap incident between him and the Ferrari duo. This time Verstappen wasn´t to be blamed for the collision, which was Team Principal Horner´s opinion as well.
After a ten minutes´ wait the race was restarted behind the safety car. Rosberg was leading the race with Red Bull´s Ricciardo second. Force India´s Hulkenberg was third, McLaren´s Alonso surprisingly 4th and Hamilton already fifth! Kimi started the chase and jumped two positions immediately. This brought the Finn behind Red Bull´s Verstappen; it´s funny how these two have tended to find each other on the track this season! Once again there was an electrical and heated battle between these two; Kimi managed to get past the flying Dutchman after their tyres had slightly touched. Both, however, ended up going off track and Kimi was asking on the team radio, whether he had to give Verstappen the place back, which he finally did. Once again Max was in "the grey area" when defending his position against the determined Iceman. A few laps later Max pitted, which made Kimi´s race a little easier.
By lap 18 Hamilton had made it past Hulkenberg and the Briton was already in P3, which was quite amazing in terms of his starting position. In the halfway point of the race Hamilton pitted for a fresh set of soft Pirellis but had a small delay during his pit stop -the Briton re-joined the track in P9. Towards the end of the race Sebastian started snatching positions one by one. First the German passed Massa in his Williams and then Alonso in his McLaren. Teammate Kimi also made his way past Massa but couldn´t quite challenge his compatriot Bottas for P8.
Rosberg had no difficulties whatsoever and cruised to victory on a 2-stop strategy. Red Bull´s Ricciardo was the runner-up (2stops as well) with Hamilton completing the podium on a 3-stop strategy. Force India made an impressive job at Spa, as Hulkenberg finished 4th and Perez 5th. Sebastian had to settle for P6. Alonso, who had also started to the race from the very back of the grid, finished 7th, which was quite impressive. Bottas finished 8th, Kimi 9th (4 stops!) and Massa completed the top ten. I would be lying, if I said I wasn´t disappointed at Kimi´s result. The Iceman had had such a stunning start, but collision caused by his teammate had ruined his race! That was the case in terms of home hero Verstappen as well, who ended up finishing 11th. His pace was gone after the first-turn incident!
Sebastian seems to be struggling with his pace, right as I wrote yesterday. He definitely doesn´t seem to be happy with the car and the way things are going at the moment... Sebastian´s ex trainer Tommi Pärmäkoski was visiting the Finnish MTV Formula 1 studio today, and spectators were asked to post questions for him on Twitter. I posted a question as well, and I was so so happy that my question was picked among those, that Tommi answered in the post-race broadcast. My question was about Sebastian´s weaknesses both as a racing driver and as a person, if there were any. I wrote my question before the start of the race -what a relevant question it turned out after the race start! Tommi replied in a way, which I kind of expected; Sebastian feels very comfortable when he´s happy with his car and when everything is going according to plan. He´s an absolute perfectionist, and things can get difficult, when he gets beaten by his teammate for example... If I´m asked, who was at fault in the first-corner incident today, I say it was Sebastian, as he left absolutely no room for his teammate. But I want Sebastian to know, that I support him always, no matter what happens on track! Everyone makes mistakes. Nevertheless, I´m a fan of Sebastian from all my heart!
After the race Twitter was full of angry and hatred-filled tweets about Verstappen and his driving. I have very opposite feelings about this young man! He may make some questionable moves when defending his position, but today for instance, he wasn´t even taken into investigation by the stewards for his actions. For me it means he hasn´t done anything against the rules. Max definitely stands out of the crowd. His driving style is risky but passionate and bold. This Dutch teenager divides opinions, but so have all great Formula 1 drivers done, just to mention Michael Schumacher and Ayrton Senna. So I´m not ashamed to say that I´m a huge fan of Max Verstappen!
What an F1 weekend this has been! I´m still writing this blog post in an adrenaline rush, overwhelmed with so many emotions... Which is what makes Formula 1 racing so amazing! And round 14 will be already next week at Monza, can´t wait!
P.S. Hamilton is still leading the championship standings, but now Nico is only 9 points down on his teammate...
P.P.S. My thoughts can be read also here: http://sfcriga.com/belgian-gp-2016
On the opening lap Toro Rosso´s Sainz´s rear tyre exploded and his car suffered severe damage. Virtual safety car was deployed, as there was a lot of debris on the track. Rosberg was leading the race and teammate Hamilton had already jumped 12th after starting from the back row. Kimi on the other hand was down in P19. The race didn´t look too good for the Iceman... The other Finn Bottas, who had also started to the race on the super soft Pirellis, was now in P4.
After the virtual safety car the race was on only for a couple of laps, until there was another incident. Renault´s Magnussen hit the kerb on the top of Eau Rouge and lost control of his car, which lead into a massive shunt into the barriers. Magnussen´s car turned into a total wreck, so it was a small miracle that the Dane didn´t get badly hurt. He got a wound on his ankle but got out of the car on his own. Safety car was deployed, which started the pit stop roulette. Kimi came in for a fresh set of soft tyres. Williams, on the other hand, decided to call Bottas in not until a lap later, which turned out to be a wrong call, as the Finn lost many positions and dropped down to P12.
Some four laps later the race was red-flagged, as there was so massive damage in the tyre barrier after Magnussen´s crash. All cars pitted and waited for the restart. Verstappen stepped out of his RB12 and rushed to the pit wall to explain, what had happened in the first-lap incident between him and the Ferrari duo. This time Verstappen wasn´t to be blamed for the collision, which was Team Principal Horner´s opinion as well.
After a ten minutes´ wait the race was restarted behind the safety car. Rosberg was leading the race with Red Bull´s Ricciardo second. Force India´s Hulkenberg was third, McLaren´s Alonso surprisingly 4th and Hamilton already fifth! Kimi started the chase and jumped two positions immediately. This brought the Finn behind Red Bull´s Verstappen; it´s funny how these two have tended to find each other on the track this season! Once again there was an electrical and heated battle between these two; Kimi managed to get past the flying Dutchman after their tyres had slightly touched. Both, however, ended up going off track and Kimi was asking on the team radio, whether he had to give Verstappen the place back, which he finally did. Once again Max was in "the grey area" when defending his position against the determined Iceman. A few laps later Max pitted, which made Kimi´s race a little easier.
By lap 18 Hamilton had made it past Hulkenberg and the Briton was already in P3, which was quite amazing in terms of his starting position. In the halfway point of the race Hamilton pitted for a fresh set of soft Pirellis but had a small delay during his pit stop -the Briton re-joined the track in P9. Towards the end of the race Sebastian started snatching positions one by one. First the German passed Massa in his Williams and then Alonso in his McLaren. Teammate Kimi also made his way past Massa but couldn´t quite challenge his compatriot Bottas for P8.
Rosberg had no difficulties whatsoever and cruised to victory on a 2-stop strategy. Red Bull´s Ricciardo was the runner-up (2stops as well) with Hamilton completing the podium on a 3-stop strategy. Force India made an impressive job at Spa, as Hulkenberg finished 4th and Perez 5th. Sebastian had to settle for P6. Alonso, who had also started to the race from the very back of the grid, finished 7th, which was quite impressive. Bottas finished 8th, Kimi 9th (4 stops!) and Massa completed the top ten. I would be lying, if I said I wasn´t disappointed at Kimi´s result. The Iceman had had such a stunning start, but collision caused by his teammate had ruined his race! That was the case in terms of home hero Verstappen as well, who ended up finishing 11th. His pace was gone after the first-turn incident!
Sebastian seems to be struggling with his pace, right as I wrote yesterday. He definitely doesn´t seem to be happy with the car and the way things are going at the moment... Sebastian´s ex trainer Tommi Pärmäkoski was visiting the Finnish MTV Formula 1 studio today, and spectators were asked to post questions for him on Twitter. I posted a question as well, and I was so so happy that my question was picked among those, that Tommi answered in the post-race broadcast. My question was about Sebastian´s weaknesses both as a racing driver and as a person, if there were any. I wrote my question before the start of the race -what a relevant question it turned out after the race start! Tommi replied in a way, which I kind of expected; Sebastian feels very comfortable when he´s happy with his car and when everything is going according to plan. He´s an absolute perfectionist, and things can get difficult, when he gets beaten by his teammate for example... If I´m asked, who was at fault in the first-corner incident today, I say it was Sebastian, as he left absolutely no room for his teammate. But I want Sebastian to know, that I support him always, no matter what happens on track! Everyone makes mistakes. Nevertheless, I´m a fan of Sebastian from all my heart!
After the race Twitter was full of angry and hatred-filled tweets about Verstappen and his driving. I have very opposite feelings about this young man! He may make some questionable moves when defending his position, but today for instance, he wasn´t even taken into investigation by the stewards for his actions. For me it means he hasn´t done anything against the rules. Max definitely stands out of the crowd. His driving style is risky but passionate and bold. This Dutch teenager divides opinions, but so have all great Formula 1 drivers done, just to mention Michael Schumacher and Ayrton Senna. So I´m not ashamed to say that I´m a huge fan of Max Verstappen!
What an F1 weekend this has been! I´m still writing this blog post in an adrenaline rush, overwhelmed with so many emotions... Which is what makes Formula 1 racing so amazing! And round 14 will be already next week at Monza, can´t wait!
P.S. Hamilton is still leading the championship standings, but now Nico is only 9 points down on his teammate...
P.P.S. My thoughts can be read also here: http://sfcriga.com/belgian-gp-2016
lauantai 27. elokuuta 2016
Belgian GP / Qualifying: Verstappen became the youngest front row qualifier!
I was so so happy that the summer break was finally over! Four weeks felt like an eternity... Although I got to read news about Kimi getting married! It was quite a funny coincidence that Kimi and Minttu happened to get married on August 7th -which was also my wedding day! For me, however, it was the 17th wedding anniversary, as I got married already in 1999. I wish all the best for Kimi and Minttu, I hope they have a happy life together!
Back to racing then. Against all odds it wasn´t raining at Spa, but it was all sunny and the temperature was over 30 degrees Celsius! So it was a hot qualifying session -both in terms of the weather and the pecking order! In Q1 everyone came out on super softs, except Rosberg, who opted for the yellow-marked soft rubber. Teammate Hamilton made only one run to set a time within the 107 percent rule; due to the change of various power unit elements the Briton was to face a 55-place grid drop, so there was no sense to fight for pole. The team had made the decision to change all the parts at Spa, where the starting position mattered the least of all tracks. It´s actually a loophole in the regulations, but Mercedes were only wise to utilize this opportunity. After the first runs the Ferrari duo Sebastian and Kimi were topping the timesheets with Rosberg third. At the end of the session Williams´ Massa surprised everyone by jumping ahead of Sebastian and Kimi to top the opening Q1 session. Another surprise was Manor´s Wehrlein, who made it as high as P9. Out of Q2 were Manor teammate Ocon (who had replaced Haryanto), both Saubers and the unlucky Russian Kvyat, who -according to the latest rumours- is about to get fired from Toro Rosso due to his poor performance. Out were also Hamilton -who didn´t even try to make it through to Q2- and Alonso, whose McLaren stopped on the approach to Eau Rouge on its out lap.
The tyre choices were interesting in Q2. Rosberg, the Ferraris and Red Bull´s Ricciardo came out on the softs, whilst all their rivals opted for the red-marked super soft compound. In spite of the tyre choice, Rosberg had no difficulties to make it on the top! Red Bull´s home hero Verstappen -on the super softs- made an impressive first run making it second, only a tenth of a second down on Rosberg. The Force India duo Hulkenberg and Perez were 3rd and 4th on super softs as well. Kimi and Sebastian were 5th and 6th on the yellow-marked soft compound. Both Ferrari aces had a go on super softs late on, but chose to abort those laps, hence they too can start on the soft rubber, along with Ricciardo. The fallers in Q2 were the Haas duo Grosjean and Gutierrez, Renault duo Magnussen and Palmer and Manor´s Wehrlein.
In spite of Hamilton missing from the final shootout, there was an intense battle for pole between three teams. Kimi made a mistake at Stavelot on his first run, which he aborted. Rosberg -expectedly- took provisional pole but Red Bull´s Verstappen was only a tenth of a second down on the German. After his first run Sebastian was in P3. Williams´ Massa and McLaren´s Button opted for one run only. Both Williams were affected by engine software issues, which meant they were unable to run in qualifying mode. Neither Rosberg nor Verstappen was able to improve his lap time on the second run so pole was Rosberg´s. Kimi was flying on his second run, and the Finn pushed Ricciardo out of the third place. Kimi was only 17 thousandths of a second down on Verstappen and less than two tenths off pole! Pole could have been there for Kimi to take! Sebastian was complaining that the rear end had lost all grip by the end of the lap, and the German had to settle for P4 today. Ricciardo got beaten by his young teammate quite impressively; the Australian could only make it 5th today. Perez was 6th, Hulkenberg was 7th, Bottas 8th, Button 9th and Massa completed the top ten.
Verstappen got stunning support from Dutch fans, and the Dutchman was the youngest man to ever feature on an F1 front row! Wow, he is called "the flying Dutchman" for a reason! :) Tomorrow´s race will be a thriller! Rosberg on pole and Kimi in P3 will start to the race on the more durable soft tyres, whilst Verstappen in P2 will start on the super softs and will most likely have a shorter first stint. I have a hunch that both Max and Kimi will pass Nico already at the start ;) I´m sure there will be another electrical and hair-raising battle between Max and Kimi, who have tended to find each other on track this season! Spa is like Kimi´s home track, the Iceman always shines like a diamond there! Kimi has every chance to make it on the top step of the podium! I hope the hot weather will be an advantage for Ferrari. Somehow I feel that Sebastian has been struggling with his pace lately... The Finnish F1 commentators -including Sebastian´s ex trainer Tommi Pärmäkoski- were joking in the F1 studio today, that Kimi´s current top form is down to him getting married ;) Talking about Sebastian´s difficulties Tommi suggested that maybe Sebastian also should get married to improve his performance! :D
And you can never write off Lewis Hamilton, no matter if he started from the moon! Spa is known for good overtaking possibilities, so the Briton will most likely fight for a podium finish. What I´d like to see is a race dominated by the red team -with a little touch of orange!
Back to racing then. Against all odds it wasn´t raining at Spa, but it was all sunny and the temperature was over 30 degrees Celsius! So it was a hot qualifying session -both in terms of the weather and the pecking order! In Q1 everyone came out on super softs, except Rosberg, who opted for the yellow-marked soft rubber. Teammate Hamilton made only one run to set a time within the 107 percent rule; due to the change of various power unit elements the Briton was to face a 55-place grid drop, so there was no sense to fight for pole. The team had made the decision to change all the parts at Spa, where the starting position mattered the least of all tracks. It´s actually a loophole in the regulations, but Mercedes were only wise to utilize this opportunity. After the first runs the Ferrari duo Sebastian and Kimi were topping the timesheets with Rosberg third. At the end of the session Williams´ Massa surprised everyone by jumping ahead of Sebastian and Kimi to top the opening Q1 session. Another surprise was Manor´s Wehrlein, who made it as high as P9. Out of Q2 were Manor teammate Ocon (who had replaced Haryanto), both Saubers and the unlucky Russian Kvyat, who -according to the latest rumours- is about to get fired from Toro Rosso due to his poor performance. Out were also Hamilton -who didn´t even try to make it through to Q2- and Alonso, whose McLaren stopped on the approach to Eau Rouge on its out lap.
The tyre choices were interesting in Q2. Rosberg, the Ferraris and Red Bull´s Ricciardo came out on the softs, whilst all their rivals opted for the red-marked super soft compound. In spite of the tyre choice, Rosberg had no difficulties to make it on the top! Red Bull´s home hero Verstappen -on the super softs- made an impressive first run making it second, only a tenth of a second down on Rosberg. The Force India duo Hulkenberg and Perez were 3rd and 4th on super softs as well. Kimi and Sebastian were 5th and 6th on the yellow-marked soft compound. Both Ferrari aces had a go on super softs late on, but chose to abort those laps, hence they too can start on the soft rubber, along with Ricciardo. The fallers in Q2 were the Haas duo Grosjean and Gutierrez, Renault duo Magnussen and Palmer and Manor´s Wehrlein.
In spite of Hamilton missing from the final shootout, there was an intense battle for pole between three teams. Kimi made a mistake at Stavelot on his first run, which he aborted. Rosberg -expectedly- took provisional pole but Red Bull´s Verstappen was only a tenth of a second down on the German. After his first run Sebastian was in P3. Williams´ Massa and McLaren´s Button opted for one run only. Both Williams were affected by engine software issues, which meant they were unable to run in qualifying mode. Neither Rosberg nor Verstappen was able to improve his lap time on the second run so pole was Rosberg´s. Kimi was flying on his second run, and the Finn pushed Ricciardo out of the third place. Kimi was only 17 thousandths of a second down on Verstappen and less than two tenths off pole! Pole could have been there for Kimi to take! Sebastian was complaining that the rear end had lost all grip by the end of the lap, and the German had to settle for P4 today. Ricciardo got beaten by his young teammate quite impressively; the Australian could only make it 5th today. Perez was 6th, Hulkenberg was 7th, Bottas 8th, Button 9th and Massa completed the top ten.
Verstappen got stunning support from Dutch fans, and the Dutchman was the youngest man to ever feature on an F1 front row! Wow, he is called "the flying Dutchman" for a reason! :) Tomorrow´s race will be a thriller! Rosberg on pole and Kimi in P3 will start to the race on the more durable soft tyres, whilst Verstappen in P2 will start on the super softs and will most likely have a shorter first stint. I have a hunch that both Max and Kimi will pass Nico already at the start ;) I´m sure there will be another electrical and hair-raising battle between Max and Kimi, who have tended to find each other on track this season! Spa is like Kimi´s home track, the Iceman always shines like a diamond there! Kimi has every chance to make it on the top step of the podium! I hope the hot weather will be an advantage for Ferrari. Somehow I feel that Sebastian has been struggling with his pace lately... The Finnish F1 commentators -including Sebastian´s ex trainer Tommi Pärmäkoski- were joking in the F1 studio today, that Kimi´s current top form is down to him getting married ;) Talking about Sebastian´s difficulties Tommi suggested that maybe Sebastian also should get married to improve his performance! :D
And you can never write off Lewis Hamilton, no matter if he started from the moon! Spa is known for good overtaking possibilities, so the Briton will most likely fight for a podium finish. What I´d like to see is a race dominated by the red team -with a little touch of orange!
sunnuntai 31. heinäkuuta 2016
German GP: Win for Hamilton, double podium for Red Bull!
Once again it was super exciting, when the lights went out. Rosberg on pole got a poor start and lost three positions right away! Teammate Hamilton stormed to the lead in a determined way. The Red Bulls went into Turn 1 side by side; Verstappen made a bold move in the outside of Ricciardo and managed to get past his teammate in style! It was a bit of an "all or nothing" kind of move, but this time it paid off. Sebastian managed to get past Kimi at the start as well, and the Ferrari teammates were in P5 and P6. Rosberg was aggressively putting pressure on the Australian Red Bull pilot, but Ricciardo had gone to "Verstappen mode" to hold off the German.
Verstappen and Rosberg were the first top drivers to pit already on lap 12; both opted for another set of supersoft tyres. Ricciardo pitted a lap later with a different tyre strategy to his teammate -a fresh set of soft tyres. On lap 15 Hamilton pitted from the lead, opting also for a different tyre strategy to his teammate (yellow-marked soft tyres). Kimi pitted for a fresh set of soft Pirellis -similar to his teammate Sebastian. The Iceman´s pit stop left a little to hope for, as it took some extra seconds due to a gearbox issue.
After the second pit stops Verstappen rejoined the track right ahead Rosberg in his Mercedes. Rosberg was anxious to get past the flying Dutchman as soon as possible. Max made a defensive move at the braking; Rosberg took the inside line but left no room for Max when turning in. This move forced Max off track, which the Dutchman immediately complained loudly on the team radio. The stewards took the incident into investigation immediately, and Rosberg was handed a 5-second time penalty for forcing Verstappen off track! In my opinion the penalty was the right call from the stewards. Rosberg would have been able to turn in earlier, had he wanted to do so! Understandably Rosberg himself couldn´t understand, why he had been given a penalty for "a good fight" ;)
By lap 40 things tightened up between the Red Bull teammates. Ricciardo -on the supersoft tyres- had chased down teammate Verstappen, who was on the prime tyres. Ricciardo made a successful and classy overtaking move on the Dutchman; it seemed that Max wasn´t even putting up a real fight, as it was his teammate in question. Rosberg came in for his third pit stop on lap 44 -and to suffer his 5-second time penalty. But instead of 5 seconds Rosberg stood untouched for 8 seconds before his pit stop! This cost the German valuable time. After the race Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff stated that the delay was caused by their broken stopwatch! Which sounds quite unbelievable considering the high technology of the modern F1 cars...! The penalty and the delay meant that Rosberg was out of the podium battle.
After the third pit stops Hamilton was still leading the race, as he had done from lap one. Ricciardo was second and teammate Verstappen third. Rosberg was fourth, Sebastian 5th and Kimi 6th. Williams´ Bottas had opted for a 2-stop strategy, which turned out to be a wrong call. At the end of the race the Finn lost positions both to Force India´s Hulkenberg (P7) and to McLaren´s Button (P8). Bottas had no chance to defend his position on his dying tyres. At the end of the day Bottas had to settle for P9. To my disappointment there were no thrilling battles for positions in terms of the top ten drivers -all in all quite a monotonous race.
Although Ferrari´s performance was a disappointment, it was a pleasure to see Verstappen on the podium again -for the fourth time already! Ricciardo knew how to put up a humorous show for the fans; Hamilton drank sparkling wine from his trophy, but the Australian poured the sparkling wine into one of his racing boots! German GP was kind of a turning point in terms of the championship battle. Hamilton has now a 19-point lead over his teammate in the drivers´ standings! In terms of the constructors´ standings, Red Bull has now officially moved ahead of Ferrari! The Italian-based team is now 14 points off Red Bull and massive 173 points down on Mercedes! I start to be a bit worried about Ferrari´s performance, as they seemed absolutely toothless today. It definitely didn´t help the team, that they lost their Chief Technical Officer James Allison, who left the team for personal reasons. Nevertheless, I never stop believing in the team. I know they´re working hard and improving step by step. I always support Kimi and Sebastian, for better or worse!
So now it´s time for the 4-week summer break... I know I´ll have terrible withdrawal symptoms during the break, but the drivers and the teams definitely need the break. I hope Sebastian, Kimi and Max will have a relaxing summer holiday! I hope Kimi has the most perfect and wonderful wedding and that Sebastian has time to visit his summer cottage here in Finland :) Just wondering, if Max has ever visited Finland... ;) I´m already looking forward to the Belgian GP, as that´s the venue where Kimi will shine without any doubt!
P.S. My thoughts also here: http://sfcriga.com/german-gp-2016
Verstappen and Rosberg were the first top drivers to pit already on lap 12; both opted for another set of supersoft tyres. Ricciardo pitted a lap later with a different tyre strategy to his teammate -a fresh set of soft tyres. On lap 15 Hamilton pitted from the lead, opting also for a different tyre strategy to his teammate (yellow-marked soft tyres). Kimi pitted for a fresh set of soft Pirellis -similar to his teammate Sebastian. The Iceman´s pit stop left a little to hope for, as it took some extra seconds due to a gearbox issue.
After the second pit stops Verstappen rejoined the track right ahead Rosberg in his Mercedes. Rosberg was anxious to get past the flying Dutchman as soon as possible. Max made a defensive move at the braking; Rosberg took the inside line but left no room for Max when turning in. This move forced Max off track, which the Dutchman immediately complained loudly on the team radio. The stewards took the incident into investigation immediately, and Rosberg was handed a 5-second time penalty for forcing Verstappen off track! In my opinion the penalty was the right call from the stewards. Rosberg would have been able to turn in earlier, had he wanted to do so! Understandably Rosberg himself couldn´t understand, why he had been given a penalty for "a good fight" ;)
By lap 40 things tightened up between the Red Bull teammates. Ricciardo -on the supersoft tyres- had chased down teammate Verstappen, who was on the prime tyres. Ricciardo made a successful and classy overtaking move on the Dutchman; it seemed that Max wasn´t even putting up a real fight, as it was his teammate in question. Rosberg came in for his third pit stop on lap 44 -and to suffer his 5-second time penalty. But instead of 5 seconds Rosberg stood untouched for 8 seconds before his pit stop! This cost the German valuable time. After the race Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff stated that the delay was caused by their broken stopwatch! Which sounds quite unbelievable considering the high technology of the modern F1 cars...! The penalty and the delay meant that Rosberg was out of the podium battle.
After the third pit stops Hamilton was still leading the race, as he had done from lap one. Ricciardo was second and teammate Verstappen third. Rosberg was fourth, Sebastian 5th and Kimi 6th. Williams´ Bottas had opted for a 2-stop strategy, which turned out to be a wrong call. At the end of the race the Finn lost positions both to Force India´s Hulkenberg (P7) and to McLaren´s Button (P8). Bottas had no chance to defend his position on his dying tyres. At the end of the day Bottas had to settle for P9. To my disappointment there were no thrilling battles for positions in terms of the top ten drivers -all in all quite a monotonous race.
Although Ferrari´s performance was a disappointment, it was a pleasure to see Verstappen on the podium again -for the fourth time already! Ricciardo knew how to put up a humorous show for the fans; Hamilton drank sparkling wine from his trophy, but the Australian poured the sparkling wine into one of his racing boots! German GP was kind of a turning point in terms of the championship battle. Hamilton has now a 19-point lead over his teammate in the drivers´ standings! In terms of the constructors´ standings, Red Bull has now officially moved ahead of Ferrari! The Italian-based team is now 14 points off Red Bull and massive 173 points down on Mercedes! I start to be a bit worried about Ferrari´s performance, as they seemed absolutely toothless today. It definitely didn´t help the team, that they lost their Chief Technical Officer James Allison, who left the team for personal reasons. Nevertheless, I never stop believing in the team. I know they´re working hard and improving step by step. I always support Kimi and Sebastian, for better or worse!
So now it´s time for the 4-week summer break... I know I´ll have terrible withdrawal symptoms during the break, but the drivers and the teams definitely need the break. I hope Sebastian, Kimi and Max will have a relaxing summer holiday! I hope Kimi has the most perfect and wonderful wedding and that Sebastian has time to visit his summer cottage here in Finland :) Just wondering, if Max has ever visited Finland... ;) I´m already looking forward to the Belgian GP, as that´s the venue where Kimi will shine without any doubt!
P.S. My thoughts also here: http://sfcriga.com/german-gp-2016
lauantai 30. heinäkuuta 2016
German GP / Qualifying: Rosberg grabbed pole on home soil!
I have had a terrible headache and felt absolutely exhausted today, but knowing it was a Formula 1 weekend cheered me up a lot. Formula 1 brings so much joy into my life. Even feeling unwell doesn´t prevent me from enjoying the F1 weekend!
Right at the beginning of Q1 Mercedes fired an ominous warning to the rest of the field, as they opted to run on the yellow-marked soft tyre -all their rivals were on supersofts- and still emerged fastest. Hamilton had the upper hand on his teammate in the first segment. It was extremely tight between Ferrari and Red Bull; Ricciardo was third three tenths down on Hamilton, Kimi fourth half-a-second off the Briton, Verstappen fifth and Sebastian 6th. The most positive surprise in Q1 was Gutierrez in his Haas, who was able to make it as high as P8 in the opening session. Toro Rosso´s Kvyat was the biggest surprise casualty in Q1, exiting alongside both Saubers, both Manors and the Renault of Magnussen. I kind of feel sorry for Kvyat, he has been facing so many setbacks lately! The rumour has that he´ll be fired from Toro Rosso after this season. Formula 1 is an extremely tough world... Hopefully the Russian will get his head together during the summer break and is able to bounce back stronger in the second half of the season!
Both Mercedes switched to supersofts for Q2 and once again were the ones to set the pace. This time the flying Dutchman Verstappen got the upper hand on his teammate -being half-a-second faster than Ricciardo. Kimi was the fourth fastest again, with Ricciardo fifth and teammate Sebastian sixth. The top five sat out the second runs. Sebastian came out to make a second attempt, but the timing proved wrong; the German didn´t make the chequered flag in time to start his time-lap! Luckily Sebastian´s first time-lap was good enough to keep the German among the top ten! Worth mentioning is Williams´ Bottas, who was able to make it as high as P5 in Q2. Haas´ Gutierrez was the first man to miss out on Q3; it was still an impressive result from the Mexican. Out of the final segment were also both McLarens, Toro Rosso´s Sainz, Haas teammate Grosjean and Renault´s Palmer.
At the beginning of Q3 Rosberg was setting the fastest times in sectors 1 and 2 -until the German was forced to abandon his run due to an electrical failure! Hamilton was provisionally fastest with Red Bull´s Ricciardo second -only two tenths down on the Briton. Rosberg came out three minutes from the finish setting the fastest lap time by a tenth! Teammate Hamilton made a small mistake on his second run -locking up at the hair pin- and couldn´t beat his teammate! The pecking order was clear: Mercedes once again conquered the front row, Red Bull took the second row with Ricciardo being faster of the Red Bull teammates. Ferrari were therefore confined to the third row, Kimi this time getting the better of the home favourite Sebastian. It´s a bit worrying, that again Red Bull proved Mercedes´ closest challengers! Force India´s Hulkenberg qualified 7th, but the German has faced a one-place grid drop for a technical breach regarding the tyres they used in qualifying. Williams´ Bottas qualified 8th (but will start from P7 due to Hulkenberg´s penalty), Perez was 9th and Bottas´ teammate Massa rounded out the top ten. There have been other penalties as well. Toro Rosso´s Sainz has been given a 3-place grid penalty for impeding Massa in Turn 2 during Q2. Haas´ Grosjean, on the other hand, has been handed a 5-place grid penalty for a gearbox change between FP3 and the start of qualifying.
There has been a lot of talk about the team radio rules lately. Ahead of the German GP weekend the Strategy Group agreed to loosen team radio restrictions from this weekend onwards. With the exception of the period between the start of the formation lap and the start of the race, there will be no limitations on messages sent to their drivers either by radio or pit board. I find this the right decision, as the drivers are definitely entitled to know, if they are facing a technical failure in the race. I´m eagerly looking forward to tomorrow´s race and how this will effect the team radio communication by the teams.
Let´s see if the spark-flying battle between Kimi and Verstappen continue tomorrow. It will be tight between Red Bull and Ferrari for sure. Sebastian has been struggling with his pace in previous races, but I believe it´s only a matter of time when he will start to shine again. But will anyone be able to challenge the Mercedes duo for the victory?
Right at the beginning of Q1 Mercedes fired an ominous warning to the rest of the field, as they opted to run on the yellow-marked soft tyre -all their rivals were on supersofts- and still emerged fastest. Hamilton had the upper hand on his teammate in the first segment. It was extremely tight between Ferrari and Red Bull; Ricciardo was third three tenths down on Hamilton, Kimi fourth half-a-second off the Briton, Verstappen fifth and Sebastian 6th. The most positive surprise in Q1 was Gutierrez in his Haas, who was able to make it as high as P8 in the opening session. Toro Rosso´s Kvyat was the biggest surprise casualty in Q1, exiting alongside both Saubers, both Manors and the Renault of Magnussen. I kind of feel sorry for Kvyat, he has been facing so many setbacks lately! The rumour has that he´ll be fired from Toro Rosso after this season. Formula 1 is an extremely tough world... Hopefully the Russian will get his head together during the summer break and is able to bounce back stronger in the second half of the season!
Both Mercedes switched to supersofts for Q2 and once again were the ones to set the pace. This time the flying Dutchman Verstappen got the upper hand on his teammate -being half-a-second faster than Ricciardo. Kimi was the fourth fastest again, with Ricciardo fifth and teammate Sebastian sixth. The top five sat out the second runs. Sebastian came out to make a second attempt, but the timing proved wrong; the German didn´t make the chequered flag in time to start his time-lap! Luckily Sebastian´s first time-lap was good enough to keep the German among the top ten! Worth mentioning is Williams´ Bottas, who was able to make it as high as P5 in Q2. Haas´ Gutierrez was the first man to miss out on Q3; it was still an impressive result from the Mexican. Out of the final segment were also both McLarens, Toro Rosso´s Sainz, Haas teammate Grosjean and Renault´s Palmer.
At the beginning of Q3 Rosberg was setting the fastest times in sectors 1 and 2 -until the German was forced to abandon his run due to an electrical failure! Hamilton was provisionally fastest with Red Bull´s Ricciardo second -only two tenths down on the Briton. Rosberg came out three minutes from the finish setting the fastest lap time by a tenth! Teammate Hamilton made a small mistake on his second run -locking up at the hair pin- and couldn´t beat his teammate! The pecking order was clear: Mercedes once again conquered the front row, Red Bull took the second row with Ricciardo being faster of the Red Bull teammates. Ferrari were therefore confined to the third row, Kimi this time getting the better of the home favourite Sebastian. It´s a bit worrying, that again Red Bull proved Mercedes´ closest challengers! Force India´s Hulkenberg qualified 7th, but the German has faced a one-place grid drop for a technical breach regarding the tyres they used in qualifying. Williams´ Bottas qualified 8th (but will start from P7 due to Hulkenberg´s penalty), Perez was 9th and Bottas´ teammate Massa rounded out the top ten. There have been other penalties as well. Toro Rosso´s Sainz has been given a 3-place grid penalty for impeding Massa in Turn 2 during Q2. Haas´ Grosjean, on the other hand, has been handed a 5-place grid penalty for a gearbox change between FP3 and the start of qualifying.
There has been a lot of talk about the team radio rules lately. Ahead of the German GP weekend the Strategy Group agreed to loosen team radio restrictions from this weekend onwards. With the exception of the period between the start of the formation lap and the start of the race, there will be no limitations on messages sent to their drivers either by radio or pit board. I find this the right decision, as the drivers are definitely entitled to know, if they are facing a technical failure in the race. I´m eagerly looking forward to tomorrow´s race and how this will effect the team radio communication by the teams.
Let´s see if the spark-flying battle between Kimi and Verstappen continue tomorrow. It will be tight between Red Bull and Ferrari for sure. Sebastian has been struggling with his pace in previous races, but I believe it´s only a matter of time when he will start to shine again. But will anyone be able to challenge the Mercedes duo for the victory?
sunnuntai 24. heinäkuuta 2016
Hungarian GP: Wheel-banging battle between Verstappen and Räikkönen!
My summer holiday is coming to an end, and tomorrow I´m back to work after the 4-week holiday. I´m glad I got to end my holiday with a Formula 1 weekend! And what a race it was today! The Hungarian GP offered a great deal of entertainment and various emotions!
After a difficult qualifying yesterday, Kimi opted for a fresh set of yellow-marked soft tyres for the race. When the lights went out it seemed, that all top five drivers got an excellent start. It was very tight going into Turn 1; Rosberg had Ricciardo´s Red Bull in the outside and teammate Hamilton in the inside. Hamilton, however, got the upper hand on his rivals and snatched the lead. For a passing moment Ricciardo was second, but Rosberg managed to take the position back from the Australian. Verstappen was right at his teammate´s tail with Sebastian behind him in P5.
Button in his McLaren was having a serious problem with his car already at the beginning of the race. His brakes had failed and the team had no choice but to tell his driver, how to deal with the brake issue. That, however, was considered an unauthorised team radio communication by the stewards, and the Briton was handed a drive-through penalty due to the radio communication infringement. These new rules are so complicated, that they become ridiculous. Isn´t a brake failure a serious safety issue for the driver? I mean if teams are allowed to tell their driver about a puncture, isn´t a brake issue kind of a same thing? Button definitely had a point, when he questioned the new rules on the team radio after getting the penalty. Safety should come first in Formula 1!
By lap 11 Kimi had already made his way up to P8. Kimi had convincing pace right from the beginning and the Iceman seemed absolutely determined to make it in the points. His teammate Sebastian pitted for a fresh set of soft Pirellis and rejoined the track right ahead of his teammate. On the following laps also the Red Bull drivers and both Silver Arrows pitted for a similar tyre choice. After the pit stop roulette Hamilton was still leading the race with his teammate second. Kimí seemed to be on a different tyre strategy, as the Iceman had started to the race on the soft rubber. Verstappen had rejoined the track behind Kimi after his first pit stop. The flying Dutchman seemed extremely eager and impatient to get past the Iceman, but Kimi kept up his stunning work and didn´t give the Red Bull teenager any opportunities to get past.
Kimi pitted not until on lap 30 -for a fresh set of supersoft tyres. The Finn rejoined the track in P7, right behind McLaren´s Alonso. Only a lap later Kimi made a staggering overtaking move on the Spanish McLaren driver and jumped 6th. Kimi´s pace on the fresh supersofts was absolutely breathtaking; he set fastest times on every sector and was almost 2 seconds per lap quicker than Red Bull´s Verstappen! Kimi was utterly on flames at Hungaroring!
In the second pit stops all top five drivers -Hamilton, Rosberg, Ricciardo, Vettel and Verstappen- opted for another set of yellow-marked soft tyres. The situation in the lead remained unchanged; Hamilton was still leading the race with his teammate second. Kimi, on the other hand, pitted not until on lap 51 -for a fresh set of supersoft tyres. The Iceman rejoined the track in P6, seven seconds off Verstappen. The chase was to begin! Kimi´s driving was entertainingly aggressive; he started setting fastest lap times and it took only about five laps to chase down the young Dutchman! It was the beginning of a thrilling, entertaining and wheel-banging battle between these two passionate drivers. On lap 57 there was a hair-raising moment, as Kimi tried an overtaking move on the Dutch Red Bull ace. Max defended his position aggressively as expected. The Dutchman´s move was maybe a bit on "the grey area" in terms of whether he changed his line once or twice. Nevertheless, Max maintained his 5th place, and Kimi ended up losing the end plate of his front wing due to his move. But it was such a pleasure to see the passionate racing spirit in these two drivers, as both of them were willing to give all in for the 5th position! I strongly believe, that without Kimi´s huge experience and down-to-Earth attitude the battle would probably have ended in the race-ending collision. After the race I´ve read a lot of judging comments on Twitter about Verstappen´s driving but I have to say I totally disagree! It´s true he may have been on "the grey area" considering rules, but I simply love his 100% racing attitude and the passion not to give up, although this may lead him into some contradictory situations sometimes.
Luckily the damaged end plate didn´t have too much influence on the aerodynamics of Kimi´s SF16-H. Kimi stayed at Max´s tail till the end of the race, but no chances for overtaking! Rosberg was two seconds down on his teammate, and the German was unable to challenge his teammate for the victory at any stage of the race. There was a tight battle for P3 as well between Red Bull´s Ricciardo and Ferrari´s Sebastian, but the Australian had the upper hand in the end. So Red Bull beat Ferrari fair and square, as Max managed to keep his 5th place, and Kimi had to settle for P6. Still I voted Kimi as the driver of the day, because he made a huge impression with his passionate driving today! Turning P14 into P6 is a very respectable achievement indeed. Sebastian drove a strong race as well, but to me it seemed that Kimi was the stronger one of the Ferrari teammates today. There was something extraordinary about his driving today! Alonso brought some valuable points for McLaren by finishing 7th today, Toro Rosso´s Sainz was 8th, Williams´ Bottas was 9th and Force India´s Hulkenberg scored the last point.
So Hamilton has now taken over in the drivers´ championship standings and is now leading by 6 points. It seems that Rosberg is now the under dog in terms of the championship battle. It´s very tight between Red Bull and Ferrari in the constructors´ standings, as Red Bull is now only 1 point off the Italian-based team! Luckily there´s one more race already next weekend before the much-too-long summer break! Roll on Hockenheim!
P.S. My article on the race weekend can be read also here: http://sfcriga.com/hungarian-gp-2016
After a difficult qualifying yesterday, Kimi opted for a fresh set of yellow-marked soft tyres for the race. When the lights went out it seemed, that all top five drivers got an excellent start. It was very tight going into Turn 1; Rosberg had Ricciardo´s Red Bull in the outside and teammate Hamilton in the inside. Hamilton, however, got the upper hand on his rivals and snatched the lead. For a passing moment Ricciardo was second, but Rosberg managed to take the position back from the Australian. Verstappen was right at his teammate´s tail with Sebastian behind him in P5.
Button in his McLaren was having a serious problem with his car already at the beginning of the race. His brakes had failed and the team had no choice but to tell his driver, how to deal with the brake issue. That, however, was considered an unauthorised team radio communication by the stewards, and the Briton was handed a drive-through penalty due to the radio communication infringement. These new rules are so complicated, that they become ridiculous. Isn´t a brake failure a serious safety issue for the driver? I mean if teams are allowed to tell their driver about a puncture, isn´t a brake issue kind of a same thing? Button definitely had a point, when he questioned the new rules on the team radio after getting the penalty. Safety should come first in Formula 1!
By lap 11 Kimi had already made his way up to P8. Kimi had convincing pace right from the beginning and the Iceman seemed absolutely determined to make it in the points. His teammate Sebastian pitted for a fresh set of soft Pirellis and rejoined the track right ahead of his teammate. On the following laps also the Red Bull drivers and both Silver Arrows pitted for a similar tyre choice. After the pit stop roulette Hamilton was still leading the race with his teammate second. Kimí seemed to be on a different tyre strategy, as the Iceman had started to the race on the soft rubber. Verstappen had rejoined the track behind Kimi after his first pit stop. The flying Dutchman seemed extremely eager and impatient to get past the Iceman, but Kimi kept up his stunning work and didn´t give the Red Bull teenager any opportunities to get past.
Kimi pitted not until on lap 30 -for a fresh set of supersoft tyres. The Finn rejoined the track in P7, right behind McLaren´s Alonso. Only a lap later Kimi made a staggering overtaking move on the Spanish McLaren driver and jumped 6th. Kimi´s pace on the fresh supersofts was absolutely breathtaking; he set fastest times on every sector and was almost 2 seconds per lap quicker than Red Bull´s Verstappen! Kimi was utterly on flames at Hungaroring!
In the second pit stops all top five drivers -Hamilton, Rosberg, Ricciardo, Vettel and Verstappen- opted for another set of yellow-marked soft tyres. The situation in the lead remained unchanged; Hamilton was still leading the race with his teammate second. Kimi, on the other hand, pitted not until on lap 51 -for a fresh set of supersoft tyres. The Iceman rejoined the track in P6, seven seconds off Verstappen. The chase was to begin! Kimi´s driving was entertainingly aggressive; he started setting fastest lap times and it took only about five laps to chase down the young Dutchman! It was the beginning of a thrilling, entertaining and wheel-banging battle between these two passionate drivers. On lap 57 there was a hair-raising moment, as Kimi tried an overtaking move on the Dutch Red Bull ace. Max defended his position aggressively as expected. The Dutchman´s move was maybe a bit on "the grey area" in terms of whether he changed his line once or twice. Nevertheless, Max maintained his 5th place, and Kimi ended up losing the end plate of his front wing due to his move. But it was such a pleasure to see the passionate racing spirit in these two drivers, as both of them were willing to give all in for the 5th position! I strongly believe, that without Kimi´s huge experience and down-to-Earth attitude the battle would probably have ended in the race-ending collision. After the race I´ve read a lot of judging comments on Twitter about Verstappen´s driving but I have to say I totally disagree! It´s true he may have been on "the grey area" considering rules, but I simply love his 100% racing attitude and the passion not to give up, although this may lead him into some contradictory situations sometimes.
Luckily the damaged end plate didn´t have too much influence on the aerodynamics of Kimi´s SF16-H. Kimi stayed at Max´s tail till the end of the race, but no chances for overtaking! Rosberg was two seconds down on his teammate, and the German was unable to challenge his teammate for the victory at any stage of the race. There was a tight battle for P3 as well between Red Bull´s Ricciardo and Ferrari´s Sebastian, but the Australian had the upper hand in the end. So Red Bull beat Ferrari fair and square, as Max managed to keep his 5th place, and Kimi had to settle for P6. Still I voted Kimi as the driver of the day, because he made a huge impression with his passionate driving today! Turning P14 into P6 is a very respectable achievement indeed. Sebastian drove a strong race as well, but to me it seemed that Kimi was the stronger one of the Ferrari teammates today. There was something extraordinary about his driving today! Alonso brought some valuable points for McLaren by finishing 7th today, Toro Rosso´s Sainz was 8th, Williams´ Bottas was 9th and Force India´s Hulkenberg scored the last point.
So Hamilton has now taken over in the drivers´ championship standings and is now leading by 6 points. It seems that Rosberg is now the under dog in terms of the championship battle. It´s very tight between Red Bull and Ferrari in the constructors´ standings, as Red Bull is now only 1 point off the Italian-based team! Luckily there´s one more race already next weekend before the much-too-long summer break! Roll on Hockenheim!
P.S. My article on the race weekend can be read also here: http://sfcriga.com/hungarian-gp-2016
lauantai 23. heinäkuuta 2016
Hungarian GP / Qualifying: Four red flags in weather-affected qualifying!
The start of the qualifying was delayed twice by ten minutes, as against all odds there was raining heavily at Hungaroring! Finally everyone went out on Pirelli´s wet tyres, as there remained a chance of rain within another five minutes. And very soon it was pouring with heavy rain! Both Mercedes drivers and Kimi in his SF16-H had been unable to set a competitive lap time, as the red flags came out with 13 minutes remaining. After the restart the Red Bulls of Ricciardo and Verstappen were topping the timesheets, and Kimi had managed to jump 6th -until the red flags came out again, as Sauber´s Ericsson crashed into the barriers damaging the right-front suspension in particular. Now there were still nine minutes left in the clock. When the session was restarted, both Red Bulls and Sebastian in his Ferrari came out on the intermediate tyres, whilst all the others were still on full-wets. By then a drying line was appearing in places. However, there was lots of water in others, and Williams´ Massa lost control of his FW38 and crashed heavily in Turn 4; the session was red-flagged for the third time already! Five minutes and twenty seconds were still remaining. At the restart everyone came out on the inters. Conditions were still pretty challenging, which Manor´s Haryanto proved only a moment later. The Indonesian Manor pilot crashed out, when there were only 1m 18s remaining! The session was red-flagged and Q1 wasn´t restarted anymore. The Mercedes teammates Rosberg and Hamilton were at the top with McLaren´s Alonso third and Ferrari´s Vettel fourth. In addition to Ericsson, Massa and Haryanto, who had crashed out, also both Renault drivers and Manor´s Wehrlein missed out on Q2. What an eventful Q1! The 18-minute first session ended up lasting for over an hour due to the four red-flag stoppages! I didn´t mind it, though as Sebastian´s former trainer Tommi Pärmäkoski was commentating the Finnish F1 broadcast and he had many interesting stories to tell behind the scenes!
In Q2 everyone came out on the inters, as there were still many wet patches on the track. But times improved faster than you could write them down, as the track improved with every lap. Williams´ Bottas was the first driver to switch to the supersoft slicks, and soon all the others also opted for the similar tyre choice. It was quite unbelievable, how fast the track conditions really improved; at the very end of the second session Kimi was topping the timesheets, but however, the Iceman ended up being knocked out of the final session! Kimi dropped as down as P14, which was quite shocking! Timing was everything in the drying conditions, and this time it didn´t work out for the Iceman unfortunately. I was so gutted for Kimi! Red Bull´s Verstappen, however, was outstandingly the fastest man in Q2 with Rosberg second and teammate Ricciardo third. Hamilton ran off road briefly on his last run, and the Briton just barely made it among the top ten. Haas´ Grosjean was the first driver to miss out on Q3. What caught my eye, was the fact, that both McLaren drivers made it into the decisive final segment!
It was amazing, how fast the track dried out! Everyone started to the final session on the red-marked supersoft slicks. Quite expectedly Hamilton took provisional pole with teammate Rosberg second. Red Bull seemed to be Mercedes´ closest rival, as Sebastian couldn´t quite match Red Bull´s pace. After his first attempt the German Ferrari ace was in P5. On his last run Hamilton had made the fastest time in sector one, but then he came across Alonso´s spun McLaren at the top of the hill; yellow flags ruined the Briton´s chance to make it on pole. By the time Rosberg got there the yellows were cleared, and in spite of some traffic Rosberg managed to snatch pole for the Hungarian GP. The yellow flags forced also Ricciardo to abort his final run, and the Australian had to settle for P3. Teammate Verstappen had missed his last run due to failed timing, and the Dutchman was fourth. Sebastian qualified 5th, Toro Rosso´s Sainz was impressive 6th, the McLaren duo of Alonso and Button 7th and 8th, Force India´s Hulkenberg 9th and Williams´ Bottas 10th. At the end of the day Sebastian was 9 tenths down on pole-setter Rosberg!
In the international media there has been a video clip, where a little boy gives Sebastian a drawing of Sebastian, Kimi and Max on the podium (Sebastian the winner, Kimi the runner-up and Max third). Sebastian seemed very delighted of the drawing and posed for a photo with the little Ferrari fan. A moment later it was shown, how Sebastian put the drawing on the wall of his pit garage! What an utterly touching gesture from the quadruple world champion! Ferrari definitely has some obstacles to overcome tomorrow, and who knows how the weather will turn out, but I cross my fingers that the podium turns out to be similar to that in the little boy´s drawing! Sebastian, Kimi and Max I believe in you! You have no idea how you make me feel just by driving flat out every time!! (And Tommi -looking forward to hearing more stories from you!)
In Q2 everyone came out on the inters, as there were still many wet patches on the track. But times improved faster than you could write them down, as the track improved with every lap. Williams´ Bottas was the first driver to switch to the supersoft slicks, and soon all the others also opted for the similar tyre choice. It was quite unbelievable, how fast the track conditions really improved; at the very end of the second session Kimi was topping the timesheets, but however, the Iceman ended up being knocked out of the final session! Kimi dropped as down as P14, which was quite shocking! Timing was everything in the drying conditions, and this time it didn´t work out for the Iceman unfortunately. I was so gutted for Kimi! Red Bull´s Verstappen, however, was outstandingly the fastest man in Q2 with Rosberg second and teammate Ricciardo third. Hamilton ran off road briefly on his last run, and the Briton just barely made it among the top ten. Haas´ Grosjean was the first driver to miss out on Q3. What caught my eye, was the fact, that both McLaren drivers made it into the decisive final segment!
It was amazing, how fast the track dried out! Everyone started to the final session on the red-marked supersoft slicks. Quite expectedly Hamilton took provisional pole with teammate Rosberg second. Red Bull seemed to be Mercedes´ closest rival, as Sebastian couldn´t quite match Red Bull´s pace. After his first attempt the German Ferrari ace was in P5. On his last run Hamilton had made the fastest time in sector one, but then he came across Alonso´s spun McLaren at the top of the hill; yellow flags ruined the Briton´s chance to make it on pole. By the time Rosberg got there the yellows were cleared, and in spite of some traffic Rosberg managed to snatch pole for the Hungarian GP. The yellow flags forced also Ricciardo to abort his final run, and the Australian had to settle for P3. Teammate Verstappen had missed his last run due to failed timing, and the Dutchman was fourth. Sebastian qualified 5th, Toro Rosso´s Sainz was impressive 6th, the McLaren duo of Alonso and Button 7th and 8th, Force India´s Hulkenberg 9th and Williams´ Bottas 10th. At the end of the day Sebastian was 9 tenths down on pole-setter Rosberg!
In the international media there has been a video clip, where a little boy gives Sebastian a drawing of Sebastian, Kimi and Max on the podium (Sebastian the winner, Kimi the runner-up and Max third). Sebastian seemed very delighted of the drawing and posed for a photo with the little Ferrari fan. A moment later it was shown, how Sebastian put the drawing on the wall of his pit garage! What an utterly touching gesture from the quadruple world champion! Ferrari definitely has some obstacles to overcome tomorrow, and who knows how the weather will turn out, but I cross my fingers that the podium turns out to be similar to that in the little boy´s drawing! Sebastian, Kimi and Max I believe in you! You have no idea how you make me feel just by driving flat out every time!! (And Tommi -looking forward to hearing more stories from you!)
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