Here’s your photo reminder of the Italian Grand Prix. The many goings on at the Frankfurt Motor Show mean you’ve had to wait a few extra days, which is why we’ve assembled over 110 photos for you to enjoy.
We liked the pics of McLaren’s 50th anniversary celebrations. And we’d have loved to score an invite to hear Mark Webber talking about his last European grand prix too.
Kimi Raikkonen has revealed he expects to confirm his future employment plans in the next few days. And word from the paddock at Monza is he will be moving to Ferrari in 2014.
His current boss, Eric Boullier, says it’s all up to Kimi. “The decision rests more with him because he has an offer from us,” he said. “We know he has a couple of things we have to supply and deal with to close the discussion.
“But now Kimi is in a position where he is being chased by most of the paddock and he will decide. He knows what he gets with us, but he doesn’t know what he will get if he changes teams.”
Over at the Red team they’re playing their cards close to their chest. “This is something we want to take at the appropriate time, to make sure that we take the best decision for our team,” Domenicali said when responding to questions about Ferrari’s 2014 driver line up.
“I think the fact that we have not decided yet means we have to put all the elements on the table. We will announce and say something on that as soon as we have finalised it. It is not an easy decision for us.”
What Fernando Alonso will make of having Kimi as a teammate is anyone’s guess. We can’t see the 33-year-old Finn being as compliant as Felipe Massa, or even Nico Hulkenberg, who has also been linked with the Scuderia. Looks like we won’t have long to find out.
[Source: Autosport | Pic: Lotus F1 Team/LAT Photographic]
Here’s your lot, recapturing Vettel’s dominance, from the scenic Ardennes mountains. It’s a majestic circuit in a beautiful location. Everyone loves Spa-Francorchamps!
We loved Mark Webber’s scenic bike ride and we also loved the many views of Eau Rouge. It’s easy to dismiss the corner in these times when an F1 car can just nail it flat down the hill and over the blind crest of Radillon.
You probably need to see it with your own eyes to appreciate just how steep that climb is. How fearsome it would be, flat out in an F1 car, heading into the unknown searching for the relative safety of the Kemmel Straight. We can only imagine the feeling one’s body would experience with the fluctuation of G forces and messages being fired into your brain from your watering eyes.
Just amazing.
Knowing what we know now about the Greenpeace protest, it’s also interesting to see the evidence of the signs being installed as the cars were lining up on the grid to start the race.
The latest gossip on the Formula 1 rumour mill is a real doozy: Kimi Raikkonen to Ferrari in 2014?
Of course, Kimi won his 2007 world championship with the Scuderia so he knows what he can achieve with the Maranello posse. But it’s also the place he lost his passion for F1. We think a return is unlikely, but when you consider that former Lotus Technical Director, James Allison, has switched camps to Ferrari you do start to think, hmm, “Maybe.”
Then there’s the fact that Fernando Alonso’s manager was seen talking to Red Bull’s Christian Horner in Hungary, followed by Alonso’s wish for someone else’s car. Now you really start to think, “Well stranger things have happened.”
The latest Raikkonen rumour comes from Finnish publication Ilta-Sanomat. We’re not sure how solid their information is, but we do expect this will be a cracking off season, now that the recent stability of the top teams has been upset by Mark Webber’s looming departure from Red Bull.
[Source: F1 Pulse]
The Lotus F1 Team is hoping to finalise a deal to handover a 35% slice of their team to the confusingly named Infinity Racing. In return they’ll get a great big new cheque book with lots of zeroes. Eric Boullier, Lotus Team Principal, expects the deal to be finalised this week and says it will play a part in his wish to keep Kimi Raikkonen on his books.
Raikkonen is in contention for the Red Bull seat to be vacated by Mark Webber at the end of the year. Red Bull Team Principal, Christian Horner, has said the choice is likely to be a battle between Kimi and Daniel Ricciardo.
“It is not the main thing, but it is one of the things yes,” Boullier said when asked if Raikkonen wanted more financial backing for the team if he was to stay.
“I think by the end of this week everything should be clear,” added Boullier. “The deal gives us more than optimism for the future. It gives us the means to bring all the resources to go to the next step in terms of stability, size and, let’s say power.”
And who can say no to more power!
[Source: Autosport | Pic: Red Bull/Getty Images]
We’re fairly certain is Lewis Hamilton is still over the moon at his first win for Mercedes-Benz, which he achieved at the 2013 Hungarian Grand Prix. But we’re not so sure he’ll check into AUSmotive to relive his victory. So, it’s just as well you’re here to fill Lewis’ shoes.
Lewis Hamilton rated his win in the 2013 Hungarian Grand Prix very highly. When interviewed on the podium by Martin Brundle he declared: “I think this is probably one of the most important grand prix wins of my career. To move to a new team and to win for Mercedes-Benz is just a real privilege.”
Clearly, Lewis was pretty happy with his day’s work, and so he should be. He drove a strong race and deserved the win.
Mark Webber was also pleased with his result, even though, he’d much prefer fighting for higher honours that P4.
“I think we had the right strategy,” Webber said. “We knew there was a lot of pressure on getting a good first lap and I got some clear air, which worked well. The start was okay and the first sector was very good, I was able to put a bit of pressure on Kimi and then we just settled in.
“I don’t think we could have got much more than that result today. The strategy was pretty solid and you have to pace the option tyres until the end.â€
Daniel Ricciardo wasn’t quite so pleased with his day and think the mid-30 degree temperatures may not suit the Toro Rosso STR8.
“Right from the start, it was clear we weren’t really quick,” admitted Ricciardo. “I tried to hold position as long as I could but we were way too slow. I tried my best in terms of trying to maintain a good pace and look after the tyres, but today it was not enough to go looking for points. We got a bit more out of the car in qualifying yesterday, but it’s hard to repeat that for seventy laps.
“We struggled at Nürburgring as well, so the heat has got something to do with it. We could not match our competitors today, just lacking speed when we have a heavy fuel load, which is the opposite of what we tended to see with last year’s car.â€
The full post-race press conference transcript featuring the first three drivers can be read after the break.
[Pic: Mercedes AMG]
Lewis Hamilton said he couldn’t win the Hungarian Grand Prix, despite starting from pole position. But he made a quick start off the line to hold P1 and managed to hang on for a well deserved win—his first for Mercedes AMG.
We were also told that the Hungaroring is notoriously difficult to pass on but we saw some great overtaking moves during this race right through the field.
The closing laps saw a great scrap between Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus) and Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) for the minor podium positions. Kimi was able to hold Sebastian at bay to finish the race in P2.
Making his second great start in a row Mark Webber (Red Bull) started from P10 and improved to P7 by the end of the first lap. He bagn the race on new medium compound tyres, while all those in front were on used softs. Fresh tyres allowed Mark to stay out much longer on his opening stint and he led the race for several laps before making his first of three tyre stops.
With 10 laps to go, while in second place, Webber pitted for the final time taking on a brand new set of soft tyres. He rejoined the track in P4 some 12 seconds behind the Raikkonen–Vettel scrap but was unable to close enough ground to fight for a podium finish. Still, after his qualifying woes he should be happy with fourth.
Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) had a non-descript race and was never really in the hunt, in that context he may be happy with P5 today. However, we’re certain he won’t be happy with Ferrari’s current form.
In P6 was Romain Grosjean (Lotus) who, we think, was a little unlucky to be penalised for a great overtaking move on Jenson Button (McLaren). To complete the move Grosjean had all four wheels off the race track, ever so slightly, and was given a drive through penalty for his sins. He had shown good pace all race and had the package to fight for more.
Daniel Ricciardo (Toro Rosso) was barely sighted on the television feed all race and dropped from his starting position of eighth down to thirteenth. Crucially, he finished one place behind teammate Jean-Eric Vergne.
Formula 1 now heads into its mid-season break and will return for the Belgian Grand Prix in the last weekend of August.
Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes AMG) collected his third pole position in succession after setting the fastest time in qualifying for the 2013 Hungarian Grand Prix. Hamilton (1:19.388) was genuinely surprised to have edged out Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull, 1:19.426), who had been the benchmark all weekend.
Romain Grosjean (Lotus, 1:19.595) qualified third and in doing so reminded us that, when switched on, he has the talent to mix it with the best in the sport. If he can rid himself of his brain fades he could forge an enviable F1 career. Nico Rosberg (Mercedes AMG, 1:19.720) will start form P4 alongside Grosjean.
Fernando Alonso (Ferrari, 1:19.791) and Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus, 1:19.851) occupy the third row of the grid.
For Australian fans their hopes will be pinned on Daniel Riccardo (Toro Rosso, 1:20.641) who will start from P8, once again making it into Q3 while his teammate, Jean-Eric Vergne, was left behind in Q2 and will line up on P14.
“It was good to get into Q3 again. We seem to make a habit of finding a little bit extra for qualifying,” Ricciardo said after qualifying. “Athough ideally, I’d like to be on the pace right from Friday and chip away at the lap times within the top ten. We made some set-up changes overnight and they seem to have worked, although we had a bit of work to do to get to Q3 today.â€
Meanwhile, Mark Webber (Red Bull) did well to get himself into Q3 with a car that had ever present issues, namely a KERS failure and hampered performance from his gearbox. He elected not to go out at all in Q3 and will start from P10 and has the luxury to choose the tyres he wants to start with. Although, that’s not much of a compensation for Mark who was clearly frustrated after hopping out of his car while Q3 was still underway.
“Massively frustrating. We look stupid, it’s embarrassing and it’s a brutal circuit to be out of position on,” Webber said. “We should be challenging for the front row and we’re 10th.”
Expectations for the race are that Mercedes, again, won’t have the pace to challenge for the win, which leaves the likely result another win for Sebastian Vettel. The Hungaoring is notoriously difficult to overtake on and while Webber might have the car able to challenge for a podium it will be a mighty result if he can achieve that.
[Pic: Mercedes AMG]
The future of Lotus Cars is brighter today thanks to word coming through that parent company DRB-Hicom has agreed to a new three-year plan. While the revised program isn’t quite as lofty as the five-model Bahar bonanza, DRB-Hicom says it will base its program around the Exige, Evora and Elise.
Hinting that the worst of the company’s financial woes are in the past, DRB-Hicom managing director, Tan Sri Mohd Khamil Jamil, told Malaysian media: “We have cleaned up and we are moving ahead.
“We are coming out with the variants based on existing products—variants with improved technology, improved performance, improved quality as well as improved costing.â€
Sales for Lotus have also improved markedly on 2012 numbers which saw a paltry 80 cars sold in the entire year. In 2013 a total of 70 cars were sold to the end of May. Lotus is now expecting to build up to 40 cars per month with up to 85% set for export.
The all-new Esprit, pictured above, has not been given a green light just yet, but it was close to reaching sign-off before DRB-Hicom took control of Lotus. It’s been speculated that under the right circumstances the project could be revived without breaking the budget.
[Source: Autocar]
It’s taken us a while to prepare, but here’s your first instalment in our 2013 Goodwood Festival of Speed image gallery. We’ve got more than 260 images in all which will be spread out over three galleries.
Presented in alphabetical order, this selection of photos starts with Alfa Romeo and ends with Lotus. And doesn’t that Alfa Romeo 4C just look sensational!
Stay tuned over the next two days for the remaining galleries to be posted.
Here we are with a bumper edition of F1 pics this week. There’s over 100 photos from the 2013 German Grand Prix for you below, there’s some really great images too. We hope you like them.