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2014 Italian GP: Post-race press conference

2014 Italian Grand Prix

Formula 1’s biggest soap opera continued in Monza where Lewis Hamilton won the Italian Grand Prix overnight. Lewis took the lead after Nico Rosberg made a repeat error at the first corner, allowing Hamilton to take the lead unopposed.

It was a bad error from Rosberg, this is true. However, suggestions Rosberg ran wide on purpose are a little hard to believe, we think and more inline with the overhyped fantasy land some journalists or their editors want to create.

Elsewhere Daniel Ricciardo’s late charge earned him unofficial drive of the day plaudits but in the end all that mattered were the 10 points he got for finishing fifth.

“The strategy helped today, it kept the tyres fresh enough to go those extra few laps at the end,” Ricciardo said after the race. “I saw the cars in front of me pit and the pace was still good enough, so seeing that we didn’t have great pace when we were out of position then we thought we would try something different and that’s why we went long, which helped towards the end of the race.

“The start wasn’t ideal, it’s one of the longest runs up to Turn One here from the start line and it’s not a place where you want to have a bad one, but I dropped the clutch and didn’t get the traction, so we will have to look at that, but we kept a cool head and picked our way back through the field. I think fifth, even with a good start, was the best we could do.”

You can read the thoughts of the first three drivers after the race and you’ll see that’s where the Rosberg conspiracy theories began, albeit with a subtle question from Peter Farkas.

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Formula 1 Mercedes-Benz

Lewis Hamilton wins 2014 Italian GP

Lewis Hamilton wins 2014 Italian Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton has overcome a fortnight of hyperbole and poor start from pole position to win the Italain Grand Prix. He’s now within striking distance of the world championship lead, 22 points behind Nico Rosberg.

Mercedes AMG also enjoyed maximum points with Rosberg coming home in a comfortable second place. The German made an excellent start from P2 leaving Hamilton in his wake. However, an error going into the first chicane after the start-finish line allowed Hamilton to take the lead.

Lewis dropped down to P4 on the opening lap but fought back to increase pressure on Rosberg. When Rosberg went straight on at the chicane Hamilton took control of the race, built a steady margin and was never troubled.

As expected the Williams duo of Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas were the next best, filling places P3 and P4. Massa’s podium is his first for Williams and his first taste of champagne since last year’s Spanish Grand Prix.

Daniel Ricciardo’s race started badly, too. Starting from P9 he was soon out of the points in the early stages after he was forced off track through the first corner. Although, his day was salvaged thanks to his ability to run a long first stint in a one-stop race. With fresher tyres as the race drew to a close Daniel was carving through the field. His move to claim P5 from teammate Sebastian Vettel combined superb awareness, race craft and even some cheekiness.

Close behind Vettel were Sergio Perez and Jenson Button, who had a great scrap late in the race swapping positions a few times. Rounding out the top 10 in an otherwise drama free grand prix were Kimi Raikkonen and Kevin Magnussen. The latter copping a five second penalty for forcing Bottas off track.

The visit to Monza represents Formula 1’s final European race for the year as the teams head to Singapore for the next grand prix. While we may not like it the season is sure to stay alive until the final race in Abu Dhabi which will have that controversial double points policy in place.

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2014 Belgian Grand Prix in pictures

2014 Belgian Grand Prix

We could get used to watching Daniel Ricciardo winning Formula 1 Grands Prix. What about you?

With his Belgian Grand Prix victory Daniel has made it two wins in a row, for a career total of three race wins. Mark Webber had nine wins and Sebastian Vettel a very handy 39 wins (one with Toro Rosso).

Those of you quick on your sums will have worked out Red Bull Racing now has 50 grands prix wins in total. Let’s hope Daniel keeps on closing the gap to Sebastian, even if it is a massive mountain to climb.

Oh yeah, there’s a stack of pics for you after the break, too!

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2014 Belgian GP: Post-race press conference

2014 Belgian Grand Prix

It’s always great waking up the morning after an Aussie has won a Formula 1 race. One of the pleasures that comes with Daniel Ricciardo’s win at the Belgian Grand Prix is reading the thoughts he gave to the media after the race.

Remarkably, Daniel Ricciardo’s three wins so far this season is only one behind Nico Rosberg’s four victories. And while we do hear a lot from Daniel, of course, the press focused on the contact between Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton. That contact not only ruined Hamilton’s race but gave Daniel a small opportunity to win and, thankfully, he was able to rise to the challenge.

[Pic: Red Bull/Getty Images]

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Daniel Ricciardo wins 2014 Belgian GP

2014 Belgian Grand Prix

Daniel Ricciardo has enhanced his already soaring reputation after he won a dramatic Belgian Grand Prix. It’s Daniel’s third Formula 1 race victory and the first win by an Australian at the admired Spa circuit since Sir Jack Brabham won on the old 14km layout in 1960.

Mercedes was expected to dominate the race but a clumsy move by polesitter Nico Rosberg on Lewis Hamilton, who made a lightning start from P2 to claim the lead, threw the race result wide open. Rosberg clipped Hamilton’s left rear tyre leaving the Briton with a puncture and pouting bottom lip. Rosberg, too, lost momentum when his front wing had to be replaced and opened the door for Ricciardo who was good enough to capitalise on the glimmer of hope that came his way.

Hamilton’s undertray was damaged when he limped back to the pits and proceeded to whinge his way through the grand prix until he finally got his way and the team brought him in to retire with a handful of laps remaining.

Rosberg was able to work his way back to P2, finishing just a few seconds behind Ricciardo, but he wasn’t missed by a loud contingent of race fans who booed him during the post-race podium celebrations. A harsh reaction perhaps, although his own team has Rosberg in its sights. The contact with Hamilton was clearly Rosberg’s, fault but it was much closer to being a racing incident than any deliberate sabotage. Still, the end result saw Rosberg extend his championship lead by 18 points.

Valtteri Bottas drove a relatively quiet race to claim the final podium step, a position he’s made his own in recent times. Kimi Raikkonen showed outstanding pace at times on a track where he was won four times previously and finished P4.

The closing race scrap for positions P5–P8 was breathtaking, with four drivers mixing it wheel-to-wheel and regularly swapping positions. In the end the results fell to Sebastian Vettel, Kevin Magnussen, Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso.

Sergio Perez and Daniil Kvyat rounded out the top 10, not that either were able to attract much camera time. While Andre Lotterer’s F1 debut lasted just one lap.

Ricciardo’s win has cemented his third place position in the drivers’ championship, he’s now only 36 points behind Hamilton, who is 29 points behind Rosberg.

[Pic: Red Bull/Getty Images]

UPDATE: Kevin Magnussen was handed a 20 second post-race penalty from the stewards after forcing Fernando Alonso off track. That pushes Magnussen fro P6 down to P12.

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2014 Hungarian Grand Prix in pictures

2014 Hungarian Grand Prix

Determination, courage, pride and, most of all, talent; Daniel Ricciardo has them all. His results so far in 2014 have exceeded expectations and let’s hope that continues for some time yet.

You can relive Daniel’s victory in the Hungarian Grand Prix below. There’s over 100 photos on offer and some of them even feature subjects other than Daniel and his winning celebrations!

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2014 Hungarian GP: Qualifying report

2014 Hungarian Grand Prix

Nico Rosberg’s charmed run has continued after he claimed pole position for the Hungarian Grand Prix. On his last lap in Q3 Rosberg (1:22.715) snatched pole by a comfortable margin from Sebastian Vettel (1:23.201). Valtteri Bottas (1:23.354) once again has his Williams in the mix and qualified third.

The big story, though, was Lewis Hamilton suffering yet another mishap during qualifying. The 2008 world champion was fastest in all three practice sessions and went into Q1 with justified confidence. Alas, early in the session his car suffered a fuel leak which caused a fire. Making matters worse Mercedes has to build a up a new chassis forcing Lewis to start the race from pit lane.

For only the fourth time in 11 races Daniel Ricciardo (1:23.391) will start behind his Red Bull teammate. He will line up on the second row in P4 and said the lack of tyre temps after the rain shower prevented him from achieving a better qualifying result.

“The car feels pretty good this weekend,” said Ricciardo. “In Q1 and Q2 we were looking good, but when the rain came in Q3 we couldn’t get the temperature back in the tyres quick enough for one timed lap so I’m a bit disappointed not to be further up the grid.

“It would be good to be on the front row, but fourth isn’t a disaster. It’s hard to overtake around this circuit, so we need to aim to make as few stops tomorrow as possible.”

Fernando Alonso (1:23.909) and Felipe Massa (1:24.223) will share the third row. Jenson Button (1:24.294) will start alongside Jean-Eric Vergne (1:24.720). While Nico Hulkenberg (1:24.775) and Daniil Kyvat (1:24.706) round out the top 10.

Kyvat inherits P10 after Kevin Magnussen crashed out early in Q3. Light rain fell in between Q2 and Q3 and the wettest part of the track was Turn 1. On his first flying lap early in Q3 Magnussen misjudged the track and locked his brakes into Turn 1 before skidding into the tyre barriers at pace. He emerged unhurt but his car required signficant work and he will start from pit lane ahead of Lewis Hamilton.

Kimi Raikkonen made headlines too after he failed to progress to Q2, thanks to a last gasp effort from Marussia’s Jules Bianchi. The young Frenchman is signed to the Ferrari Driver Academy and is tipped to progress to the Scuderia when a place becomes available. Which presumably means Kimi needs to raise his game.

Only an outright disaster or car failure will prevent Rosberg from using his sixth pole position for the year to increase his championship lead over the luckless Lewis Hamilton. Indeed, on the tight Hungaroring layout Hamilton will just be happy if he can make the top 10 and claim a championship point.

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2014 German Grand Prix in pictures

2014 German Grand Prix

Winning your home grand prix would be pretty cool. We’ve seen it twice in two races now thanks to Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton. Here’s your chance to relive Nico’s German Grand Prix win.

We’re only sorry we don’t have photos of Daniil Kvyat’s car on fire or Adrian Sutil doing donuts on the main straight while spinning out of the race.

As for choosing to keep the Safety Car in the garage and forcing the marshals to scamper out to retrieve Sutil’s abandoned car; that wouldn’t have had anything to do with protecting the German driver’s lead in the German Grand Prix would it?

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2014 German GP: Felipe Massa crash

Felipe Massa crashes out at the 2014 German Grand Prix

Amateur footage uploaded to YouTube gives us another look at the opening lap crash from the 2014 German Grand Prix involving Felipe Massa and Kevin Magnussen. You can also see Daniel Ricciardo forced way off track to avoid the incident.

The race stewards investigated the crash and decided neither Massa nor Magnussen were responsible and no further action was taken. Of course, the drivers don’t always see it like that.

“Luckily I am OK but I am not happy,” said Felipe Massa. “I was in front going into the corner, and so to have another race ended by another driver is not easy. I am doing my best, the team are doing their best, and we just aren’t getting the chances we need.

“Going into the first corner I was near to Valtteri but had to back off to stop an accident, sadly some others didn’t do the same. I am obviously very disappointed.”

Meanwhile, Kevin Magnussen defended himself saying he was unable to avoid contact with Massa.

“A real pity: I think I could’ve had a decent race if I hadn’t had the accident at Turn One,” Magnussen said. “I need to see a replay of the accident, but I feel that, if I’d had somewhere to go, then there wouldn’t have been contact with Felipe.

“I did my best to try and avoid the accident, but there wasn’t much else I could do.”

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2014 German GP: Post-race press conference

2014 German Grand Prix

The champagne from Nico Rosberg’s fourth win for the year will complement his recent wedding celebrations nicely. You can read what he has to say about that and the German Grand Prix after the break, along with the thoughts of Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton.

Before you do, though, here’s the post-race thoughts from a very enthusiastic and positive Daniel Ricciardo who was very happy with his day after that near miss at the first corner.

“That was awesome fun, one of my most enjoyable races I’ve had,” Daniel said. “I mean, not on the first lap, obviously, that was just the wrong place at the wrong time. I wasn’t as worse off as Massa and hopefully he is okay.

“I was on the outside and the collision happened, I had to avoid it and went pretty far down the field, I don’t know exactly how far back. From then on I just got on to the radio and said let’s make an amazing recovery and make ourselves proud today. And I think we did that, we fought hard and we didn’t leave anything on the table.

“These are the moments and battles that I personally thrive off and enjoy. Fernando is known to be a tough racer and I thought who better to have a good fight with. I was on the Primes and he was on fresher Options and I gave it the best fight I could and, well.., nearly!”

What a guy!

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Nico Rosberg wins 2014 German GP

2014 German Grand Prix

Nico Rosberg has capped of a great few days by winning his home grand prix for the first time. He did it in a canter, too, with a 20.7 second margin over Valtteri Bottas in P2. Lewis Hamilton couldn’t quite make it a 1-2 for Mercedes, but should be happy with third after starting the race from P20.

Since the disappointment of his gearbox failure in British Grand Prix Rosberg has signed a lucrative contract extension, got married and seen his country win the World Cup. Not a bad run of results and don’t forget he’s also extended his world championship lead over Hamilton to boot.

Hamilton’s charge through the field might have yielded an even better result had he not suffered front wing damage after making his way past former teammate Jenson Button. In the end he didn’t quite have enough pace to get past Bottas.

Sebastian Vettel finished fourth, ahead of a desperately close late stoush between Fernando Alonso and Daniel Ricciardo. Alonso crossed the line less than a tenth ahead of Ricciardo, having overtaken him just a few laps prior.

Nico Hulkenberg continued his run of points-winning results in every race so far this year with P7. Jenson Button led home his junior teammate Kevin Magnussen. While Sergio Perez rounded out the top 10.

Another spectacular first lap incident ended the race of Felipe Massa after he clipped Magnussen at the first corner, sending both cars off track. Massa’s car flipped before ending on its wheels and the Brazilian emerged unscathed.

Ricciardo had made a clean start off the line but was forced off track to avoid the Massa-Magnussen incident and rejoined the track well down in P15. Clearly, Daniel could have done better than P6 today; he displayed flashes of brilliance at times while charging through the field and especially late when defending against a much quicker Alonso.

Other incidents attracting attention was a fire to Daniil Kvyat’s Toro Rosso and a late race spin at the last corner from Adrian Sutil, which left his Sauber stricken on the main straight. It took some time to move his car off the track and you have to wonder why a Safety Car was not deployed to allow marshalls increased safety while dealing with the car.

We back up again next week for the Hungarian Grand Prix and let’s hope that race offers some of the excitement and close racing we saw at Hockenheim.

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2014 German GP: Qualifying report

2014 German Grand Prix

Nico Rosberg will start tonight’s German Grand Prix from pole position after his teammate Lewis Hamilton crashed out due to a brake failure in Q1. In his first lap of Q3 Rosberg laid down a marker (1:16.540) that nobody could match. It’s his fourth pole in the last five races.

In the first serious hit out since the teams ditched the FRIC suspension the order we have come to expect in 2014 remained largely in tact. Perhaps we’re not used to seeing both Williams drivers in the top three, but their form has been on the improve in recent times and seeing Valtteri Bottas (1:16.759) almost challenge for pole was not a total surprise, nor was seeing Felipe Massa (1:17.078) in the frame as well.

In P4 was Kevin Magnussen (1:17.214) who claims McLaren has benefitted from the recent suspension changes. Once again Daniel Ricciardo (1:17.273) has qualified ahead of Sebastian Vettel (1:17.577) and the Red Bull pair will start from P5 and P6 respectively.

“It wasn’t too bad today, we would like to be further forward than fifth, but the lap I did was pretty good,” Ricciardo said. “I made quite an improvement in Q3 from Q2 so I can’t really argue with the lap I did, but as a team we are still a bit off.

“We know the Mercedes is strong, but the Williams was also continually showing their pace today and the McLaren with Kevin was good, so we have to keep working but we did what we could.

“I think the race will be close between the top eight tomorrow and it will be a battle for the final podium spot.”

The top 10 was rounded out by Fernando Alonso (1:17.649), Daniil Kvyat (1:17.965), Nico Hulkenberg (1:18.014) and Sergio Perez (1:18.035).

The major drama from qualifying was Hamilton’s crash in Q1. He is okay, although he was a bit shaken and has bruised knees after making heavy contact with the tyre barrier. Immediately afterwards Lewis claimed a brake failure caused him to lose control. Mercedes later confirmed a front right disc failed.

Mercedes has changed the discs on Lewis’ car and will now most likely start the race from the pit lane.

Nico Rosberg explained in the press conference he knew he could not be affected by the same problem as he runs different brake components to Lewis. Which is an interesting discussion point on its own.

Rosberg will be hoping to cap-off a great start to his home grand prix with a win, something made that little bit easier by Hamilton’s woes. Perhaps, things are just going to go Nico’s way this year.

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