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2014 British GP: Post-race press conference

2014 British Grand Prix

Here’s the transcript from the post-race press conference at the British Grand Prix. We’ll start with a few words from Daniel Ricciardo who explained a one-stop strategy wasn’t his original plan.

“We chose to restart on the prime,” Daniel said. “It didn’t seem like the best thing to do at first because we were really slow at the restart. Valtteri and Fernando got past me pretty easily and pulled away and I was coming on the radio basically saying ‘let’s see if we can try something a little bit different’ as we didn’t really have the pace as we hoped.

“Once we came in for the option, we just ran and pushed pretty much for the whole stint. I didn’t intend on doing a one-stop when I started on that tyre but laps ticked off and we were still able to keep the pace. The team said ‘do you think you could do another 15–20 laps’ and I was like ‘at the moment, yeah, I think we can’, so we stayed out and just held on at the end. It was awesome.

“I think all three of us had a bit of redemption on our plate today. It was a pretty dismal Saturday for us. I think we’re all pretty happy. This is definitely one of my best podiums this year.”

[Pic: Red Bull/Getty Images]

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Lewis Hamilton wins 2014 British GP

Lewis Hamilton wins 2014 British Grand Prix

On the weekend Silverstone celebrated its 50th anniversary Lewis Hamilton delighted the home crowd by winning the British Grand Prix. It’s his 27th career win and brings him alongside Sir Jackie Stewart to equal seventh on the all-time list.

In even better news for Lewis he has reduced the championship title race to just four points after teammate Nico Rosberg was forced to retire with gearbox issues. Rosberg led the race up until his Lap 28 retirement. Lewis, though, was only too happy to assume the lead which he held comfortably until the chequered flag.

Valtteri Bottas achieved his best grand prix result by finishing second, improving one step at a time after his third place in Austria. It was an impressive result after starting from P14 and using a one-stop strategy to climb twelve places. Daniel Ricciardo also employed a one-stop tyre strategy to elevate himself from a P8 starting position to finish in third place.

An opening lap crash by Kimi Raikkonen brought out a red flag. Raikkonen ran wide into Turn 5 and when he rejoined the track on Wellington Straight he ran over a bump which caused him to lose control and crash head-on into an armco barrier. The impact spat him back across the track and Felipe Massa, in his 200th grand prix, clipped Raikkonen’s Ferrari while trying to avoid contact.

Both drivers were forced to retire from the race and concerns over Raikkonen’s immediate health were eased when he emerged from his car. He later complained of ankle pain and will be monitored after Ferrari later revealed the impact of the crash was registered at 47G.

Jenson Button finished fourth after also opting for a one-stop strategy. Button was closing in fast on third place as the race drew to an end. Perhaps with another lap or two he may have been able to overtake Ricciardo for P3.

A stoush between Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso provided entertainment as they diced wheel-to-wheel. Both drivers got on the radio to complain about poor standards from the other and in the end Vettel came up trumps finishing in P5, Alonso in P6. Although, Vettel will be sour after he started the race on the front row, while Alonso will feel better about his day after starting form a lowly P16.

The top 10 was rounded out by Kevin Magnussen, Nico Hulkenberg and the Toro Rossos of Daniil Kvyat and Jean-Eric Vergne.

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2014 British GP: Qualifying report

2014 British Grand Prix

Nico Rosberg will start from pole position after a topsy turvy qualifying at the British Grand Prix. It’s the German’s fourth pole for the year and once again he was lucky to gain a big advantage over his key championship rival and teammate Lewis Hamilton.

Rain was present throughout all three qualifying sessions which meant the times were a bit all over the place. Both Ferrari drivers and both Williams drivers missed progression to Q2, which will add extra spice to the race as they try to charge past slower cars.

But it was the final session which held the main drama. All drivers except Sebastian Vettel set times in the early part of Q3 with the results seeing Lewis Hamilton (1:39.232) on provisional pole ahead of Rosberg.

Midway through the session rain became heavy in parts of the track and drivers sat it out in pit lane waiting as late as they dare before reemerging for a last gasp effort.

Hamilton and Rosberg crossed the line to start their final laps with moments to spare, the provisional pole sitter ahead of his teammate. Rosberg desperate to push for P1 was right on Hamilton’s tail. The first two sectors were slow for Rosberg, but he kept pushing. In the final sector he made up significant time and landed pole position (1:35.766) with a time more than three seconds faster than Hamilton’s who had aborted his final lap.

Other drivers to benefit from pushing right until the end were Vettel (1:37.386) and Jenson Button (1:38.200). Nico Hulkenberg (1:38.329) was the first of the late runners to show there was time to be made up in the final sector and briefly held provisional pole.

In the wash up Hamilton finished in P6 and looked bitterly disappointed with that outcome as he emerged from his car after quali.

Daniel Ricciardo was in P4 after the first round of laps early in the session but chose not to set another lap and he will line up from P8 on the grid. It’s fair to say Daniel was surprised at how much faster his opponents could go.

“I didn’t expect it to go quicker at the end of the session there, as the rain kept coming,” Ricciardo said. “We really thought the track wouldn’t get quicker, Vettel only went out as he didn’t have a time at that point. We have to learn from it I guess – I’m gobsmacked how much faster the circuit got, it must dry a lot quicker here than I thought. We’ll move forwards from there tomorrow.”

The final grid, which has been affected with a number of penalties, can be seen after the break along with the full text from the post-qualifying press conference.

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Formula 1 Red Bull Racing

Is Ricciardo being favoured over Vettel?

Daniel Ricciardo and Sebastian Vettel

Right from the season outset Daniel Ricciardo has shown he’s neither intimdated nor inferior to Red Bull Racing’s golden child Sebastian Vettel. The young Aussie is comfortably ahead of the four-time world champion in the 2014 standings and has more often than not been the best of the drivers left in the wake of the runaway Mercedes AMG drivers.

Neither of the Red Bull drivers had a weekend to remember in Austria, but Ricciardo collected some consolation points, while Vettel suffered yet another retirement. Is Vettel’s poor run simply down to bad luck, or is it something more?

Jacques Villeneuve, the 1997 world champion who now works in the media, says something more sinister is at play.

“He’s a four-time World Champion who has earned the titles won, but now Red Bull Racing is treating him like they were to Mark Webber,” Villeneuve said in an interview with OmniCorse.it [translated].

Villeneuve goes on to suggest that the season is all but over for Vettel, as far as Red Bull is concerned.

“They seem to have decided to focus only on Daniel Ricciardo,” he added. “Now they want to ‘kill’ Sebastian because the German is not able to give another image of Red Bull. Of course, he cannot stand one more season.

“Helmut Marko has now also started to criticise him. When you lose control of the team and the policy begins to have an ever-increasing weight, you’re finished.”

Yet, Villeneuve’s most emphatic statement was yet to come. The former F1 champ says Vettel must leave Red Bull Racing.

“Vettel is finished there, he needs to change team.”

According to Villeneuve Ferrari would be Vettel’s most likely destination, claiming Alonso will be tired of carrying the team on his own, while Raikkonen lacks the finesse to drive a modern F1 car.

These comments from Villeneuve, made early last week, may well be chasing headlines, but what a headline!

[Source: RichlandF1 | Pic: Red Bull/Getty Images]

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Formula 1 Red Bull Racing Renault

My name is Christian and I am not amused

Christian Horner

After one of his team’s most lack lustre grands prix in some time Red Bull Racing Team Principal Christian Horner made it clear where he thinks the blame rests for the under performing RB10.

Horner is clearly unhappy with the reliability of the Renault power unit. “It’s frustrating that we’re in the situation that we are,” he said, speaking to Autosport.

“We’ve won all the races and all the championships that we’ve achieved with Renault power. But the situation just isn’t improving at the moment.

“The reliability is unacceptable. The performance is unacceptable. There needs to be change at Renault. It can’t continue like this. It’s not good for Renault and it’s not good for Red Bull.

“We need to work together as partners. There will not be another engine in the back of the car next year, but we want to be competitive and we want to run at the front.”

For their part, Renault isn’t shying away from its responsibilities.

“The anxiety that Christian feels, and the frustration he feels after a result that is not at the full potential of the performance of car and power unit, is completely understandable and shared by us,” acknowledged Renault deputy managing director Rob White.

“But we are completely committed to making progress as fast as we possibly can and I think we have shown signs of progress before now. This is a process that is completely shared with Red Bull, and the objectives are known and understood.”

[Source: Autosport | Pic: Red Bull/Getty Images]

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2014 Austrian Grand Prix in pictures

2014 Austrian Grand Prix

Nico Rosberg was the first to spray champagne at the revamped Red Bull Ring after he won the 2014 Austrian Grand Prix. It seems fans, teams and anyone connected to the race has been drinking Didi’s kool-aid, because they can’t stop saying how much they love this place. We’ve even assembled our biggest gallery of the year so far to remind you of what went down in Spielberg.

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Formula 1 Red Bull Racing Video

A lap of the Red Bull Ring

Red Bull Ring

The next race on the 2014 F1 calendar is the Austrian Grand Prix (22 June). It sees a return to the old A1-Ring site, which last hosted an F1 event in 2003. The track has since been bought and redeveloped by Red Bull and now it’s pretty much a giant advertising theme park.

Giving us a brief overview of the new 4.3km Red Bull Ring layout are Sebastian Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo in this very slick animation. Really, the graphics are first class.

In addition to the video animation Red Bull has provided three wallpaper images. All of which you can see after the break.

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Formula 1 Red Bull Racing

Mark v Daniel: The first win

Mark Webber and Daniel Ricciardo celebrate their maiden grand prix wins

While we’re still in the afterglow of Daniel Ricciardo’s maiden grand prix win it’s timely to compare the immediate in-car reaction of Daniel with Mark Webber after his first F1 victory (see video after the break).

The circumstances leading to the wins for each is vastly different, in the paths their careers have taken and the circumstances in which those first wins took place.

For Mark his career was a hard graft and his win in at the 2009 German Grand Prix was in the bag a long time before the chequered flag.

In contrast, Daniel’s win in Canada came by surprise, almost, and he’s enjoyed a much smoother path into F1. Daniel has also said he was not comfortable celebrating in the car too much until he knew that Felipe Massa and Sergio Perez were okay after their race-ending crash.

[Thanks to Aaron for the tip]

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2014 Canadian Grand Prix in pictures

2014 Canadian Grand Prix

DAN IS THE MAN!

It’s always special when we can bring you a pictorial update of an Aussie winning a Formula 1 Grand Prix. It’s been a while between drinks, but let’s hope we see a lot more of young Daniel on the top step.

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2014 Canadian GP: Post-race press conference

2014 Canadian Grand Prix

Hey, guess what Australia, Daniel Ricciardo just won the 2014 Canadian Grand Prix! His first ever F1 victory—how cool is that.

Here’s what he said after being asked what it was like to join the small but elite club of Australian drivers who have won a grand prix:

Yeah, it’s awesome. It’s still sinking in a bit. I’m just really pleased that I was able to – as I said – to really capitalise today on the opportunity. I could see it in front, when Nico was there and Perez was in between us. I was – like – if we can just get Perez, I think we’ll be able to make a charge on Nico. Really pleased. Yeah. It’s going to take a little bit to sink in but OK, so very proud, great to hear the Aussie anthem. It’s been a few years since I won a race, I think 2011, Monaco in World Series or something, so like three years, it’s a long time, standing on a top step. It’s a feeling I missed a lot.

You can read a lot more from Daniel, as well as Nico and Sebastian, after the break.

[Pic: Red Bull/Getty Images]

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Daniel Ricciardo wins 2014 Canadian GP

Daniel Ricciardo wins 2014 Canadian Grand Prix

Daniel Ricciardo claimed his maiden grand prix win this morning with a thrilling victory in the Canadian Grand Prix. The 24-year-old Australian overtook Nico Rosberg’s failing Mercedes AMG with just two laps to run before taking the chequered flag behind the Safety Car.

While dicing for P4 in the closing stages Felipe Massa (Williams) and Sergio Perez (Force India) came together and crashed out in spectacular style, flying into the crash barriers either side of a fortunate Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull). The incident brought out the Safety Car and secured Ricciardo’s win.

Vettel escaped that late drama to finish the race in third. Jenson Button (McLaren) put in a late charge to claim fourth after overtaking Nico Hulkenberg (Force India) and Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) on the last flying lap.

Earlier, it was looking like the usual Mercedes procession we’ve come to expect in 2014. It wasn’t always perfect, Vettel got past Hamilton to briefly hold P2, but could not defend that position when DRS became available. Rosberg and Hamilton soon resumed their position at the head of the pack and cleared off into the distance.

The lead changed in Hamilton’s favour thanks to some scrappy work during Rosberg’s second pit-stop, only to see Rosberg regain P1 shortly after when Hamilton ran wide at the hairpin allowing his teammate to get by.

The Mercedes 1–2 result was scuppered, with 24 laps remaining, when Hamilton’s rear brakes faded badly forcing him into the pits to retire. Rosberg was plagued by the same problem but drove a masterful race thereafter under instructions to simply get to the flag. The chasing group, headed by Perez, closed in quickly on Rosberg but the German was able to do enough to maintain a lead of around one second.

Ricciardo made a race-defining move with six laps to run when he was able to force his way past Perez. His timing couldn’t have been better, as he soon overtook a backmarker in Esteban Gutierrez (Sauber) and set about chasing Rosberg. Gutierrez did his best to get out of the way of the group behind but stalled them enough to give Ricciardo some respite.

Rosberg still appeared to have enough to in the kitty to hold Ricciardo at bay, but on Lap 68 of 70 the Australian was able to get by the failing Mercedes with DRS on the back straight. The Perez-Vettel-Massa grouping had dropped back a little to give Rosberg some relief.

However, Vettel bullocked his way by Perez to take P3 and might have had reason to believe he could also chase Rosberg down. Any such thoughts were brought to an abrupt end when Massa clipped the left rear of Perez’s car, shooting both cars off track and out of the race. Fortunately both men appeared to escape injury and a necessary Safety Car brought an end to some chaotic and breathtaking racing.

After taking the chequered flag Daniel seemed to be in a state of disbelief and shock, such was the drama and speed with which the fortunes of his race changed. Once he stood on the podium’s top step for the first time, though, his trademark beaming smile was there for all to see.

Ricciardo was a popular winner and hearing Advance Australia Fair brought an equally broad smile to thousands of race fans down under who were rewarded for braving the 4am (AEST) race start.

Daniel becomes the fourth Australian to win a Formula 1 Grand Prix, joining Sir Jack Brabham (14), Alan Jones (12) and Mark Webber (9). He also moves to third in the drivers’ championship, behind Rosberg and Hamilton.

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2014 Canadian GP: Qualifying report

2014 Canadian Grand Prix

Nico Rosberg’s battle to wrest championship momentum from Lewis Hamilton took another step this morning when he claimed pole position for the Canadian Grand Prix.

Rosberg’s time of 1:14.874 was less than a hundreth of a second quicker than Hamilton’ best lap (1:14.953) and the Mercedes pair enjoyed a gap of almost half a second back to the rest of the field.

Sebastien Vettel (1:15.548) heads the chasing pack after pulling out a great final lap to elevate him ahead of the more fancied Williams duo and into P3. The Mercedes-powered Williams was expected to have the pace on the Montreal layout to claim the lockout the second row, but they have to be content with Valtteri Bottas (1:15.550) in P4, with Felipe Massa (1:15.578) in P5.

For only the second time this year Daniel Ricciardo (1:15.589) has been out qualified by his teammate and he finds himself starting from sixth. Amazingly, just 0.041 seconds separated P3 from P6 and Daniel says he could have gone faster.

“It was a bit scrappy on the final run, we made a couple of adjustments and it didn’t quite work out” he said. “We’ve made progress throughout the weekend and we were not too far off, but it’s disappointing to just miss out. The times were close, but it could have been better. Hopefully we can get a good start tomorrow and see how we go, the strategy will be interesting.”

The top 10 was rounded out by Fernando Alonso (1:15.814), Jean-Eric Vergne (1:16.162), Jenson Button (1:16.182) and Kimi Raikkonen (1:16.214).

The full starting grid, along with the post-quali press conference transcript can be viewed after the break.

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