(© Ben Johnston 2015)
MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS F1 Team’s Nico Rosberg took a dominant
first victory of 2015 at the Barcelona Circuit De Catalunya on Sunday as the
European season got underway. The German led home team mate and world
championship leader Lewis Hamilton to claim a 1-2 finish for the Brackley based
outfit for the second year in a row at this event.
Rosberg won the race by a whopping 17.551s from Hamilton and
speaking following the race, Rosberg stated:
‘We had a perfect weekend here in Spain. We have a fantastic car and
everybody did a really great job in the break, so thanks to the team for
everything. My start was great for the first time this season. From there I was
able to control the pace and I never felt in danger throughout the whole race.
I'm so happy about this win. It's still early days in the season so it's good
to close the points gap to Lewis. I will continue to push hard - starting with
a home race for me in Monaco!’
Despite finishing the race in second place Lewis Hamilton
leaves Spain with a 20 point lead of Nico Rosberg as the team head to Monaco in
two weeks. Speaking following the event which he won last season, the double
world champion stated:
‘I got off to a poor start with too much wheel
spin and had to fight hard just to keep third. From there it was always going
to be tough as it's difficult to run right behind another car here and even
tougher to pass. I managed to stay close enough to Seb before the first stops
but unfortunately we lost a bit of time there. In the end, we went for a three
stop strategy to try something different. That call was made quite early on as
it was clear it wouldn't have worked to stay out for that long and, again, passing
on track was almost impossible. Luckily we had the pace to make it work. Nico
was then 22 seconds ahead with 15 laps to go which was a big gap. I pushed
really hard to close up until about 6 laps from the end but I was only gaining
about a second per lap which wasn't enough. So, damage limitation on a
difficult weekend for me. But I'm grateful that I could score some good points
for the team.’
Mercedes Motorsport Director Toto Wolff stated:
‘That feels like two P1 results today after
such a demanding race. Nico did the perfect job this afternoon: he had a great
start, built the gaps that he needed and made his two-stop strategy work in a
fantastic way. He was controlled and composed throughout. Lewis lost a position
on the start, then had a slow first pit stop, and that left him stuck behind
Vettel’s Ferrari in the second stint. At that point, we knew that the only
chance of getting past Sebastian was to do something different with the
strategy but it was still a bold move to try the three-stopper. It was only
going to work if Lewis managed to overtake on track and he made it work with
great moves on Räikkönen and Bottas – he was decisive when he needed to be and
showed some incredible pace on the prime tyre. As Lewis was building the gap he
needed ahead of Sebastian in his third stint, we actually compromised Nico a
little bit by leaving him out longer than optimum before his second stop. This
made sure the two cars didn’t trip over each other on track, while running
different strategies, and gave Lewis the clear air he needed to build the gap
to secure P2. Following Lewis’ final stop, it was clear after a few laps
pushing that the pace difference between the cars wasn’t big enough for him to
challenge for the win, so we then told both drivers to bring the car home. It’s
a great feeling to take a one-two finish at this circuit, which is a really
severe test for the complete car package, and a confirmation that the updates
we brought in a number of areas correlated to the track and delivered a good
performance improvement. Well done to everybody back at both factories, now we
will get our heads down and start working for Monaco.’
Mercedes have extended their advantage over Ferrari in the
Constructors champion and now lead the way by 70 points. Speaking following the
race, Executive Director (Technical) Paddy Lowe stated:
‘We’re absolutely delighted with today’s
result. Nico took an excellent pole yesterday, which put him in prime position
to drive a controlled and disciplined race from the front. This is precisely
what he did to take a well-earned first win of the season. It’s important for
us as a team to have two drivers competing and pushing each other – which is
exactly what we’re seeing again this year – so well done to Nico on a very strong
weekend. For Lewis, the race didn’t start off well with a lot of wheel spin off
the line. From there, it was impossible for him to overtake Sebastian with the
very marginal pace advantage we enjoyed in the first stint. We therefore
attempted the undercut with an early stop but, unfortunately for Lewis, this
didn’t work out after a problem with the left rear in the pit stop, so our
apologies to him for that. This then required us to pull out something more
extreme with the three stop strategy – which seemed like a bit of a long shot
at the time. But Lewis’ pace on the prime tyre and then again on the second set
of options was extraordinary. This enabled him to break free enough to avoid an
overtaking situation before the third stop, making it a much more comfortable
second place that it could have been. So, a huge congratulations to everyone on
an important result to start the European season and a special thanks to
everyone at our factories for all their hard work.’
Scuderia Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel finished the race on the
final step of the podium in third place while Williams Martini Racing Team’s
Valtteri Bottas held off a late charge from Kimi Raikkonen in the second
Ferrari to finish in fourth place. Speaking following the race, the Finn
stated:
‘It feels good to split the Ferraris for a second race in a row
and this has been another solid points haul for the team. Tyre life was better
than we expected and as a result we changed from a three-stop to a two-stop
race, which was a good strategic choice from the team because it allowed me to keep
Räikkönen behind. The big positive is that we were closer to the leaders than
we have been at any point this season. That gives me a lot of hope because we
have shown that the updates we are bringing are improving our performance. I
want to thank all the team here and in Grove for providing me with a great car
to go racing with, and I’d also like to thank Mercedes HPP as they continue to
push hard on the power unit to help us keep our competitors at bay.’
Scuderia Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen had a disappointing race
following such a strong result in Bahrain three weeks ago the Finn qualified
down in seventh place and went on to finish the race in fifth place, just over
a minute behind race winner Nico Rosberg. The Iceman struggled all weekend with
the set-up of the car dumping the new upgrades the team had brought this
weekend while his second new set of Medium tyres in Q3 were mysteriously fried
by the tyre warmers and destroyed.
The Finn will be hoping for better luck in Monaco in two
weeks. Felipe Massa had a solid race for the Williams Martini Racing Team as
the Brazilian finished the race in 6th place just behind Raikkonen
and speaking following the race, he stated:
‘It was a good race for the team, scoring 20 points, not losing
too much to Ferrari, but also getting a lot more than Red Bull which is really
important and positive for our championship position. I managed to overtake
cars on the first lap and then fought hard with Kimi (Räikkönen) for a long
time, which was hard on the tyres. Because of the extra degradation a
three-stop race was better for me today, but it meant the others were too far
ahead. We finished with one car in front of a Ferrari so we have shown that we
can be competitive with them and we can now look forward to Monaco which will
be a very different test for the car.’
Williams Martini Racing remain in third place in the
champion following their double points finish today ahead of Infiniti Red Bull
Racing. Speaking following the race, Williams Head of Performance Engineering
Rob Smedley commented by saying:
‘Overall I’m pleased with the result today. The car has shown
pretty good pace throughout the weekend and we wanted to see if we could
convert that potential into points. There was a lot of talk about different
teams bringing updates for this race with big gains. We have shown that our
improvements have moved us forwards and this ended up being our closest finish
to Ferrari. It was a good job by the aerodynamic team and all the people back
at Grove, as well as an excellent operational performance from the team today,
with good strategy choices and well executed pitstops. We need to keep heading
in this direction and to keep finding additional performance gains in this
package to help us challenge for podiums in future.’
Daniel Ricciardo had an ok race for Infiniti Red Bull Racing
unfortunately however he was unable to repeat his podium finish from last
season but managed to finish the race in seventh place. Speaking following the
race, the Australian stated:
‘I am more satisfied today as we achieved
everything we could and seventh was the maximum I could get out of the car.
There were some parts of the race that were encouraging but we’re still further
off than where we want to be, but we’ll keep pushing. We came here with
upgrades this weekend but they didn’t give us what we were expecting, so that’s
something we’ll keep working on. We’re still a fair bit behind Williams at the
moment but I think we have a good chance to close the gap a bit further in
Monaco.’
Ricciardo ended the race just ahead of the Lotus F1 Team’s
Romain Grosjean who continued the Enstone outfit’s points scoring run. Speaking
following the race the Frenchman stated:
‘It was a tough and eventful race. Firstly, I’m
glad to say that no-one was seriously injured in the pit stop. The rear tyres
were experiencing a lot of degradation and I just couldn’t stop in time. It was
a really scary moment for me, but probably more scary for the crew. I checked
everyone was okay and I certainly owe them some beers! In the race, I lost
fourth gear during the race which made things a bit of a challenge. It was a
tough race but it’s good to be in the points for the third race in a row and we
can be proud for what we’ve achieved today.’
Grosjean finished the race ahead of home favourite Carlos
Sainz who scored more points for Scuderia Toro Rosso however he was involved in
what the stewards deemed a racing incident with Infiniti Red Bull Racing’s
Daniil Kvyat who finished the race by rounding out the top ten. Speaking
following the event the Russian stated:
‘We didn’t have enough pace today. I had a poor
opening lap, dropping a few places and from then on that compromised my race.
Because here at this track, if you lose places at the start, it’s almost game
over, as it is so hard to get close enough to pass. I had a nice battle
with Sainz towards the end, but now we will wait and see what the Stewards say
about how it ended. We need to improve the car in every area at the moment. On
the positive side, both our cars finished the race, which is good on the
reliability front. This was a bad day for me, so now I just want to look ahead
to Monaco in the hope we can be more competitive there.’
Infiniti Red Bull Racing Team Principal Christian Horner
commented on the weekend by saying:
‘Daniel drove a strong race today, and did a
great job to extract everything he could out of the car to finish seventh which
is where we are for the moment. Dany had a tricky first lap which landed him in
traffic, and as a result used up his tyres fairly quickly and needed an early
pit stop. He drove a solid race over the next two stints to cross the line in
tenth place. We’ll have to wait and see what the outcome of the Stewards is
regarding the incident with Carlos.’
Renault Sport F1’s Thierry Salvi commented saying:
‘The weekend was focused principally on the
reliability of the power units. We limited mileage where we needed to and did
not suffer any issues in qualifying or the race, which was the first step we
needed to take to recover after the last events. It’s obviously not enough to
do just this, but we have to get back to form step by step. Everyone at Renault
Sport F1 is focused on this and we look forward to being able to work on power
unit performance very soon.’
Following a fantastic result in qualifying yesterday, Scuderia
Toro Rosso’s Max Verstappen was left disappointed as he was unable to translate
it into a strong result as he finished just outside the points in eleventh
place.
The Sauber F1 Team’s Felipe Nasr ended the race in 12th
place just ahead of Sahara Force India’s Sergio Perez. Speaking following the
race the Brazilian commented saying:
‘It was a difficult race. We have been missing
some lap time on medium as well as hard tyres compared to our main competitors.
We still lack some downforce, which compromised our race. Our two stop strategy
was overall a good choice. From my point of view, I took the maximum out of the
car, so more than P12 was not possible.’
The Sahara Force India Formula One Team’s disappointing
start to the season continued as Sergio ‘Checco’ Perez ended the race in 13th
place, one lap down. Speaking following the race the Mexican stated:
‘Considering where I qualified, we probably maximised
our race today. Maybe a three-stop strategy would have been a little bit
better, but it wouldn't have made much difference in the end. My last stint was
really on the limit - nearly 30 laps on the same set of mediums - but we
managed them well and I was able to control Ericsson who was putting pressure
on me. Once again we showed today that our car is more suited to Sundays, so if
we can improve our qualifying pace we can definitely fight for points at the
next few races.’
The Sauber F1 Team’s Marcus Ericsson ended the race in 14th
place and speaking following the event he stated:
‘Overall, 14th is
not satisfying, but I think we have extracted the maximum out of the car this
weekend. I had a reasonable start, but afterwards for a few laps got stuck a
bit in traffic. It is a shame that we lost some time, especially during my
first pit stop. We need to make sure to make the next races, and I am confident
we will do so. Now we need to focus on the test days and try to make sure we
improve the car for the next races’.
Sauber F1 Team Principal Monisha Keltenborn commented on the
race weekend saying:
‘We already had a difficult situation for the
start with 15th and 16th. That’s
why there was no more we could achieve today. Our drivers put in a solid
performance. Now we need to focus on the next race in Monaco, a track that
should suit our car better.’
The Swiss based outfit’s head of Track Engineering,
Giampaolo Dall’Ara commented by saying:
‘After a difficult qualifying we expected not to
have an easy race. The change from a three to a two stop strategy didn’t help
us much. During testing on Tuesday and Wednesday we will continue to improve
the performance of the Sauber C34-Ferrari.’
The Sahara Force India Formula One Team’s Nico Hulkenberg
had a disastrous race as he came home in 15th place. Speaking
following the race, the Hulk stated:
‘It was always going to be difficult to score
points today, especially on a track where it’s so difficult to overtake. I was
always stuck behind other cars and, even with better pace, you lose too much
performance running in the dirty air. My three-stop race was the more
aggressive approach, but we didn’t have the track position to make the most of
it. Maybe things would have worked out better if I had run in some clean air,
but points were too far away today. Hopefully we can be more competitive in
Monaco. It’s often an unusual race and we will have completely different tyre
compounds, which should suit us better.’
Sahara Force India Deputy Team Principal Robert Fernley
commented saying:
‘I think we can be content with today's race
despite finishing outside the points. Our pace was more convincing than our
qualifying performance, which allowed us to battle against the Saubers and
McLarens, but anything more was just outside our reach. We chose early on to
split the strategies so that we had the opportunity to make the most of any
unexpected developments, but as the race was fairly uneventful, both drivers
ended up pretty much in the same place. The main regret is the amount of time
Nico lost behind Maldonado in the middle of the race, which again proved how
difficult it is to overtake here – even with a tyre advantage and DRS. Looking
at the championship table, we are only eight points adrift of fifth place, and
we are now one step closer to our big upgrade package, which is encouraging for
everyone in the team.’
McLaren Honda’s Jenson Button put another race distance
under the partnership’s belt however, the 2009 world champion ended the race in
16th place, two places down from where he started and speaking
following the race he was down beat suggesting that the Woking based outfit won’t
score points this season.
Will Stevens finished the race for the Manor Marussia F1
Team albeit 3 laps down while his team mate Roberto Merhi finished his home
race four laps behind Rosberg. However the Manor Marussia F1 Team can be
satisfied with yet another double finish.
There were just two retirements from the race, Pastor
Maldonado was forced to stop after suffering car damage. Speaking following the
race, he stated:
“We were having a pretty great race at the
start and our strategy was working well but then the damage to my car meant
that I had to make an extra stop and my race was completely compromised. For
sure, we have the pace in the car and in every race we have shown the potential
to be in the points so it’s only a matter of time before we get a good result;
I’m looking forward to Monaco."
McLaren Honda’s Fernando Alonso was also forced to retire to
the massive disappointment of the Spanish crowd as a result of a brake failure
at his pit-stop.
© Ben Johnston 2015
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