Month: September 2015

Lewis Hamilton achieved his hero’s record of 41 Grands Prix victories with a commanding drive at Suzuka.

The Mercedes driver won the Japanese Grand Prix on the opening lap thanks to a better start from his team-mate Nico Rosberg.

Just a week on from the struggle around Singapore’s Marina Bay street circuit, normal service was resumed for Mercedes as Hamilton led home Rosberg by 18.9 seconds, scoring their eighth one-two of the season.

By winning the Japanese Grand Prix, Hamilton has now equalled the three-time world champion Ayrton Senna with 41 victories and from his 162nd start, one more than the Formula 1 legend.

The championship leader is now 48 points clear of Rosberg with 125 available from the remaining five races, with Sebastian Vettel falling 59 points adrift after the Ferrari driver could only manage third.

The key moment came in the opening seconds, as Rosberg and Hamilton ran side by side through the first corners.

With the preferable inside line at Turn 2, Hamilton was able to edge Rosberg aside, leading to the latter running marginally off track, allowing Vettel and Valtteri Bottas to sweep by into second and third place.

Aside from one complaint shortly before his second pitstop after 31 laps about “vibrations so big” that left him “struggling”, Hamilton was never troubled through to the chequered flag.

Rosberg limited the damage to his team-mate by passing Bottas on lap 17 before the undercut worked on Vettel 13 laps later come the second round of pit-stops.

Behind Vettel was team-mate Kimi Raikkonen as Ferrari made its own undercut work on Bottas who, from third on the grid at the start, had to settle for fifth place.

Williams team-mate Felipe Massa’s race was ruined in just a  few hundred metres as the passing Daniel Ricciardo’s left-rear tyre collided with his own front-right.

Both drivers suffered punctures, with Massa also requiring a new front-wing from damage sustained on the slow crawl back to the pits.

Massa finished P17 and two laps down, with only Manor duo Alexander Rossi and Will Stevens and late retiree Felipe Nasr behind him.

Ricciardo was P15 and a lap adrift, a week after finishing second in the Singapore Grand Prix.

Red Bull team-mate Daniil Kvyat – whose car was completely rebuilt following his heavy crash in qualifying, requiring a new chassis, power unit and gearbox – endured a frustrating race and multiple issues as he could only manage P13.

From P13 on the grid, after serving a three-place penalty for causing a collision with Massa in Singapore, Nico Hulkenberg put in a fine sixth in his Force India, gaining ground at the start and then jumping both Lotus drivers at the first round of pit-stops.

Despite the Enstone-based team’s ongoing financial woes, Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado were seventh and eighth, with the Toro Rosso pair of Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz Jr rounding out the points scorers.

Verstappen had started P17 after serving his own three-place penalty for stopping in a potentially dangerous place in qualifying after his car suffered an electrical failure.

Sainz had his own moment in the Japanese Grand Prix, hitting a bollard on the entry to the pitlane, forcing his pit crew into an unexpected front-wing change. He then lost out in a late battle with Verstappen.

As for McLaren, on Honda’s home track, Fernando Alonso could have done no more to suggest he wants a swift exit from his three-year contract…

During the race, Alonso bemoaned his lack of pace, saying “it’s embarrassing, very embarrassing”, before later labelling Honda’s power unit as “GP2” standard, followed by an exasperated cry of frustration.

Alonso eventually finished P11, with Jenson Button P16.

So not the most exciting Japanese Grand Prix but for championship leader Lewis Hamilton, this was an important victory. He matches his hero’s achievement and extends the points advantage over Mercedes team-mate.

Japanese Grand Prix, Suzuka after 53 laps:

1    Lewis Hamilton    Mercedes    1h28m06.508s
2    Nico Rosberg    Mercedes    18.964s
3    Sebastian Vettel    Ferrari    20.850s
4    Kimi Raikkonen    Ferrari    33.768s
5    Valtteri Bottas    Williams-Mercedes    36.746s
6    Nico Hulkenberg    Force India/Mercedes    55.559s
7    Romain Grosjean    Lotus-Mercedes    1m12.298s
8    Pastor Maldonado    Lotus-Mercedes    1m13.575s
9    Max Verstappen    Toro Rosso-Renault    1m35.315s
10    Carlos Sainz    Toro Rosso-Renault    1 Lap
11    Fernando Alonso    McLaren/Honda    1 Lap
12    Sergio Perez    Force India-Mercedes    1 Lap
13    Daniil Kvyat    Red Bull-Renault    1 Lap
14    Marcus Ericsson    Sauber-Ferrari    1 Lap
15    Daniel Ricciardo    Red Bull-Renault    1 Lap
16    Jenson Button    McLaren/Honda    1 Lap
17    Felipe Massa    Williams-Mercedes    2 Laps
18    Alexander Rossi    Marussia-Ferrari    2 Laps
19    Will Stevens    Marussia-Ferrari    3 Laps
20    Felipe Nasr    Sauber-Ferrari    Not running

Drivers’ standings:

1    Lewis Hamilton    277
2    Nico Rosberg    229
3    Sebastian Vettel    218
4    Kimi Raikkonen    119
5    Valtteri Bottas    111
6    Felipe Massa    97
7    Daniel Ricciardo    73
8    Daniil Kvyat    66
9    Romain Grosjean    44
10    Sergio Perez    39
11    Nico Hulkenberg    38
12    Max Verstappen    32
13    Felipe Nasr    17
14    Pastor Maldonado    16
15    Carlos Sainz    12
16    Fernando Alonso    11
17    Marcus Ericsson    9
18    Jenson Button    6
19    Roberto Merhi    0
20    Will Stevens    0
21    Alexander Rossi    0

Constructors’ standings:

1    Mercedes    506
2    Ferrari    337
3    Williams-Mercedes    208
4    Red Bull-Renault    139
5    Force India-Mercedes    77
6    Lotus-Mercedes    60
7    Toro Rosso-Renault    44
8    Sauber-Ferrari    26
9    McLaren-Honda    17
10    Marussia-Ferrari    0

Next race: Russian Grand Prix, Sochi. October 9-11.

Nico Rosberg achieved his second successive pole position at the iconic Suzuka circuit for the Japanese Grand Prix, as a spectacular accident for Red Bull’s Daniil Kvyat brought a premature end to qualifying.

Rosberg was fractionally faster than his Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton during the first runs in Q3, taking provisional pole by a small margin of 0.076 seconds.

Rosberg had just improved by 0.007 seconds in the first sector when Kvyat put a wheel off the track turning in to the kink on the approach to the hairpin.

His Red Bull was spat off into the barrier on the outside, tearing off the left-hand side of the RB11 before digging into the gravel trap and rolling over.

The Russian walked away from the wreckage but the accident brought out the red flags and halted any hopes for Hamilton of striking back, thus Rosberg confirmed his first pole since May’s Spanish Grand Prix, and only his second all season.

The Williams of Valtteri Bottas set the third quickest time, just under four tenths adrift of Hamilton, and ahead of Singapore Grand Prix winner Sebastian Vettel.

Felipe Massa made a mistake at the chicane on his best lap and ended up fifth, just 0.010 seconds clear of Kimi Raikkonen, who complained of too much understeer in his Ferrari.

Daniel Ricciardo’s Red Bull and the Lotus of Romain Grosjean rounded out the top eight, ahead of the Force India of Sergio Perez and Kvyat, who both failed to set a time in Q3.

Nico Hulkenberg, Carlos Sainz, and Pastor Maldonado all failed to make the top ten shootout after a close battle at the end of Q2.

Hulkenberg lost out to Grosjean by 0.112 seconds, dropping the crucial time in sector one, while Sainz was slow in sector two (the Degners, the hairpin and Spoon), which meant he missed the cut by almost two tenths.

Maldonado was just 0.044 seconds further back in P13, followed by Fernando Alonso in the best of the McLarens, and Max Verstappen, who failed to take part in Q2 after stopping on track in the first part of qualifying when his Toro Rosso broke down with electrical problems.

Verstappen’s stranded car on the exit of the hairpin spoiled any hopes Jenson Button’s McLaren had of making it through to Q2.

The 2009 world champion earlier complained of problems with in correct engine settings on his first run, which required him to pit.

After aborting his second run because of the yellow flags, Button told his team firmly on the radio: “in the position we’re in we cannot make any mistakes” after winding up P16, just under two tenths adrift of team-mate Alonso.

Sauber suffered an even worse session, as both drivers had to abort their final flying laps.

Felipe Nasr complained: “I was on a good lap!” after qualifying P18, less than a tenth behind team-mate Marcus Ericsson, who spun under braking at Spoon Curve on his first run, after clipping the artificial grass with his right-rear wheel.

Will Stevens won the private battle of the Manor Marussias by default, after team-mate Alexander Rossi was late joining the session then also had to abort his flying lap due to the yellows.

Qualifying positions, Suzuka:

1    Nico Rosberg    Mercedes    1m32.584s
2    Lewis Hamilton    Mercedes    1m32.660s
3    Valtteri Bottas    Williams-Mercedes    1m33.024s
4    Sebastian Vettel    Ferrari    1m33.245s
5    Felipe Massa    Williams-Mercedes    1m33.337s
6    Kimi Raikkonen    Ferrari    1m33.347s
7    Daniel Ricciardo    Red Bull-Renault    1m33.497s
8    Romain Grosjean    Lotus-Mercedes    1m33.967s
9    Sergio Perez    Force India-Mercedes
10    Daniil Kvyat    Red Bull-Renault    No time
11    Carlos Sainz    Toro Rosso-Renault    1m34.453s
12    Pastor Maldonado    Lotus-Mercedes    1m34.497s
13    Fernando Alonso    McLaren-Honda    1m34.785s
14    Max Verstappen    Toro Rosso-Renault No time
15    Jenson Button    McLaren-Honda    1m35.664s
16    Marcus Ericsson    Sauber-Ferrari    1m35.673s
17    Nico Hulkenberg    Force India-Mercedes    1m34.390s*
18    Felipe Nasr    Sauber-Ferrari    1m35.760s
19    Will Stevens    Marussia-Ferrari    1m38.783
20    Alexander Rossi    Marussia-Ferrari    1m47.114s

*Three-place grid drop due to a collision with Felipe Massa at the Singapore Grand Prix

Four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel won the Singapore Grand Prix from pole as championship leader Lewis Hamilton retired with an engine problem.

The Ferrari driver led away from the start and negotiated one virtual safety car period and two full safety car deployments to achieve his third victory of the season and fourth in Marina Bay.

Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo finished second with Kimi Raikkonen completing the podium in the other Ferrari.

The second safety car reacted to a fan getting on the track, walking on the straight after the Anderson Bridge before climbing over the barriers.

Hamilton was running in fourth position when he reported a loss of power and though his Mercedes team spent several laps trying to find a solution, it decided to retire the car after the reigning champion dropped to P16.

It was Hamilton’s first retirement in twenty races, and Mercedes’ second engine problem in as many races following Nico Rosberg’s non-finish at Monza.

Rosberg finished fourth, 14.2 seconds adrift of Vettel, to cut Hamilton’s lead to 41 points, with Vettel now just eight points further back in third position.

After a quiet opening stint of the race, and with Ricciardo starting to close on Vettel as the leader’s pace dropped away, the virtual safety car was called into action when Felipe Massa and Nico Hulkenberg collided at Turn 3.

Massa had just pitted and was rejoining the track when he met with Hulkenberg at the apex, with the Force India crashing into the barriers.

The race stewards deemed Hulkenberg was at fault and handed him a three-place grid drop for the Japanese Grand Prix.

Massa continued, but had to pit because of a puncture to his front-right tyre before he later retired with gearbox issues.

His Williams team-mate Valtteri Bottas survived a gearbox glitch in the closing stages to finish fifth, ahead of Red Bull’s Daniil Kvyat who pitted before the virtual safety car and dropped out of contention for a podium as a result.

Force India’s Sergio Perez was seventh place, holding off Max Verstappen, who fought back after failing to get away from the grid.

Toro Rosso got him going again and though he was a lap down, he fought back into the points. Was able to unlap himself when the safety car was deployed.

Following the second round of pit-stops, Verstappen was up in ninth and fought his way past Romain Grosjean to finish eighth.

His team-mate Carlos Sainz Jr lost several places when his car dropped into neutral, something that affected Massa and McLaren’s Fernando Alonso too, but Sainz rescued points with ninth after also passing Grosjean.

Verstappen was told by his Toro Rosso team to swap positions with Sainz on the final lap but did not do so.

Felipe Nasr scored the final point in the heavily-updated Sauber after a late pass on Grosjean with team-mate Marcus Ericsson P11.

Pastor Maldonado’s survived contact with Jenson Button to finish P12 with Grosjean stopping before the end but classified as P13.

It was a difficult day for McLaren-Honda, with Button and Alonso failing to finish. Both drivers forced to retire with gearbox problems.

The Manors were the last of the finishers with Alexander Rossi beating his team-mate Will Stevens to finish P14 on his Formula 1 debut.

So a brilliant victory for Sebastian Vettel. His fourth at the Marina Bay street circuit and the 42nd career in the sport.

Singapore Grand Prix, race results after 61 laps:

1    Sebastian Vettel    Ferrari    2h01m22.118s
2    Daniel Ricciardo    Red Bull-Renault    1.478s
3    Kimi Raikkonen    Ferrari    17.154s
4    Nico Rosberg    Mercedes    24.720s
5    Valtteri Bottas    Williams-Mercedes    34.204s
6    Daniil Kvyat    Red Bull-Renault    35.508s
7    Sergio Perez    Force India-Mercedes    50.836s
8    Max Verstappen    Toro Rosso-Renault    51.450s
9    Carlos Sainz    Toro Rosso-Renault    52.860s
10    Felipe Nasr    Sauber-Ferrari    1m30.045s
11    Marcus Ericsson    Sauber-Ferrari    1m37.507s
12    Pastor Maldonado    Lotus-Mercedes    1m37.718s
13    Romain Grosjean    Lotus-Mercedes    Not running
14    Alexander Rossi    Marussia-Ferrari    2 Laps
15    Will Stevens    Marussia-Ferrari    2 Laps
–    Jenson Button    McLaren-Honda    Gearbox
–    Fernando Alonso    McLaren-Honda    Retirement
–    Lewis Hamilton    Mercedes    Power Unit
–    Felipe Massa    Williams-Mercedes    Power Unit
–    Nico Hulkenberg    Force India-Mercedes    Collision

Fastest lap Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull Racing, 1m 50.041s (lap 52)

Drivers’ standings:

1    Lewis Hamilton    252
2    Nico Rosberg    211
3    Sebastian Vettel    203
4    Kimi Raikkonen    107
5    Felipe Massa   101
6    Valtteri Bottas    97
7     Daniel Ricciardo   73
8    Daniil Kvyat    66
9     Sergio Perez   39
10    Romain Grosjean    38
11     Max Verstappen   30
12    Nico Hulkenberg    30
13    Felipe Nasr    17
14    Pastor Maldonado    12
15    Fernando Alonso    11
16    Carlos Sainz    11
17    Marcus Ericsson    9
18    Jenson Button    6
19    Roberto Merhi    0
20    Will Stevens    0
21     Alexander Rossi 0

Constructors’ standings:

1    Mercedes    463
2    Ferrari    310
3    Williams-Mercedes    198
4    Red Bull-Renault    139
5    Force India-Mercedes    69
6    Lotus-Mercedes    50
7    Toro Rosso-Renault    41
8    Sauber-Ferrari    26
9    McLaren-Honda    17
10    Marussia-Ferrari    0

Next race: Japanese Grand Prix, Suzuka. September 25-27.

Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel achieved his 46th career pole position in Formula 1 with a superb performance in qualifying for the Singapore Grand Prix.

The four-time world champion was the only driver to lap the Marina Bay street circuit in less than one minute, 44  seconds in qualifying, and he ends an unbroken run of 23 consecutive races of P1 slot for Mercedes.

The championship-winning team has struggled to be competitive so far in Singapore, and the best Lewis Hamilton could manage was the fifth quickest time, a massive 1.415 seconds adrift of Vettel.

Hamilton would later say it was down to the tyres. Not surprising following the controversy post-race at the Italian Grand Prix…

Vettel set the pace throughout Q2 and Q3, and found 0.4 seconds between his first and second runs in the top ten shootout to secure Scuderia Ferrari’s first pole position since the 2012 German Grand Prix.

Daniel Ricciardo was second quickest for Red Bull, 0.543 seconds further back, while Vettel’s Ferrari team-mate Kimi Raikkonen was third, just ahead of the Red Bull of Daniil Kvyat.

Nico Rosberg rounded out the top six, 0.115 seconds slower than his Mercedes team-mate Hamilton.

The Toro Rosso of Max Verstappen made just a single run in Q3, but he managed to split the Williams duo of Valtteri Bottas in seventh and Felipe Massa in ninth.

The teenager was only 0.122 seconds slower than Bottas, but 0.279 seconds quicker than Massa.

Romain Grosjean’s Lotus completed the top ten, nearly four tenths adrift of Massa’s Williams.

Others with hope of making the pole position shootout were scuppered by Carlos Sainz Jr striking the wall heavily at Turn 19 in his Toro Rosso, which brought out yellow flags and spoiled the end of Q2.

However, Force India reckoned Q3 was just beyond its drivers regardless.

Nico Hulkenberg improved a bit on his first run, but his one minute, 46.305 seconds lap was only good enough for P11, while team-mate Sergio Perez was bumped to P13 by the McLaren of Fernando Alonso.

Sainz wound up a lowly P14 on account of his error, yet 0.125 seconds faster than Jenson Button, who felt he had too much understeer.

A last-gasp effort from Button earlier in Q1 meant both Sauber drivers failed to progress past the first stage of qualifying.

Felipe Nasr looked set to make it through in the heavily revised C34, but he ended up 0.054 seconds shy of the cut-off.

The Sauber driver will start P16, 0.083 seconds quicker than team-mate Marcus Ericsson.

The Lotus of Pastor Maldonado was 0.225 seconds adrift in P17, but well ahead of the Manor Marussias.

Alexander Rossi, making his Formula 1 debut this Singapore Grand Prix weekend, led team-mate Will Stevens after the first runs in Q1, but the American ended up half a second adrift, thanks to a substantial improvement from Stevens at the end.

So a refreshing grid order for the race. With Ferrari and Red Bull in the mix. A non-Mercedes front row for quite some time but the speed of the Silver Arrows can never be discounted. Can Vettel win his third race this season or will we see Ricciardo scoring a top result? We shall find out on race day in Marina Bay.

Singapore Grand Prix, qualifying results:

1    Sebastian Vettel    Ferrari    1m43.885s
2    Daniel Ricciardo    Red Bull-Renault    1m44.428s
3    Kimi Raikkonen    Ferrari    1m44.667s
4    Daniil Kvyat    Red Bull-Renault    1m44.745s
5    Lewis Hamilton    Mercedes    1m45.300s
6    Nico Rosberg    Mercedes    1m45.415s
7    Valtteri Bottas    Williams-Mercedes    1m45.676s
8    Max Verstappen    Toro Rosso-Renault    1m45.798s
9    Felipe Massa    Williams-Mercedes    1m46.077s
10    Romain Grosjean    Lotus-Mercedes    1m46.413s
11    Nico Hulkenberg    Force India-Mercedes    1m46.305s
12    Fernando Alonso    McLaren-Honda    1m46.328s
13    Sergio Perez    Force India-Mercedes    1m46.385s
14    Carlos Sainz    Toro Rosso-Renault    1m46.894s
15    Jenson Button    McLaren-Honda    1m47.019s
16    Felipe Nasr    Sauber-Ferrari    1m46.965s
17    Marcus Ericsson    Sauber-Ferrari    1m47.088s
18    Pastor Maldonado    Lotus-Mercedes    1m47.323s
19    Will Stevens    Marussia-Ferrari    1m51.021s
20    Alexander Rossi    Marussia-Ferrari    1m51.523s

Championship leader Lewis Hamilton achieved his 40th career Formula 1 victory at Monza despite late drama which affected his team-mate Nico Rosberg in a fiery retirement.

The Mercedes driver made a clean getaway to lead away from pole, while Rosberg slipped back to sixth. As for Kimi Raikkonen, it was a dreadful start as his Ferrari made a really slow start from the front row.

Hamilton dominated the race from there, but with a few laps remaining, he was told by his team that he needed to push without being given a reason for doing so.

Hamilton did as he was told and took the chequered flag with a 25-second lead over Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel.

After the race Mercedes was referred to the race stewards because its tyres were measured below Pirelli’s 19.5psi guideline on the grid just before the Italian Grand Prix.

Meanwhile, there was more drama for Mercedes as Rosberg’s engine expired with a few laps to go when he was running third and catching Vettel.

It was the first mechanical retirement for Mercedes this season and comes after Rosberg had to revert to an old-spec power unit, which had done six races, after an issue with his upgraded engine.

It means Hamilton, who secured his seventh win of the season, now leads Rosberg by 53 points in the championship with seven races left.

Felipe Massa inherited third, with his Williams team-mate Valtteri Bottas fourth and Raikkonen fifth after a strong recovery drive.

Force India’s B-spec car continued to impress with Sergio Perez following up his fifth place finish at Spa with sixth at Monza, one position clear of team-mate Nico Hulkenberg.

It moved the Silverstone-based team back ahead of Lotus into fifth place in the constructors’ championship, after the Enstone-based team’s race lasted just a couple of laps.

Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado both suffered contact at Turn 1, with Grosjean pulling off track and Maldonado recovering to the pits and parking the car in the garage.

Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo recovered from starting P19 after a 25-place grid penalty for changing engine elements to finish eighth with team-mate Daniil Kvyat tenth.

Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson scored points for the third successive race with ninth.

Carlos Sainz Jr just missed out of points in P11, one position ahead of Toro Rosso team-mate Max Verstappen, who started last and had to serve a drive-through penalty as punishment for his team releasing his car without its bodywork secure in qualifying, P12.

Felipe Nasr was P13 for Sauber ahead of McLaren’s Jenson Button, who made a superb start to rise from P15 to ninth before dropping back.

The Manors of Will Stevens and Roberto Merhi brought up the rear with McLaren’s Fernando Alonso retired with three laps to go.

Italian Grand Prix, race results after 53 laps:

1    Lewis Hamilton    Mercedes    1:18:00.688
2    Sebastian Vettel    Ferrari     +25.042s
3    Felipe Massa    Williams-Mercedes     +47.635s
4    Valtteri Bottas    Williams-Mercedes     +47.996s
5    Kimi Raikkonen    Ferrari     +68.860s
6    Sergio Perez    Force India-Mercedes     +72.783s
7    Nico Hulkenberg    Force India-Mercedes    +1 lap
8    Daniel Ricciardo    Red Bull-Renault     +1 lap
9    Marcus Ericsson    Sauber-Ferrari     +1 lap
10    Daniil Kvyat    Red Bull-Renault     +1 lap
11    Carlos Sainz    Toro Rosso-Renault     +1 lap
12    Max Verstappen    Toro Rosso-Renault     +1 lap
13    Felipe Nasr    Sauber-Ferrari      +1 lap
14    Jenson Button    McLaren-Honda     +1 lap
15    Will Stevens    Marussia-Ferrari     +2 laps
16    Roberto Merhi    Marussia-Ferrari     +2 laps
17    Nico Rosberg    Mercedes    DNF
18    Fernando Alonso    McLaren-Honda   DNF
–    Romain Grosjean    Lotus-Mercedes    DNF
–    Pastor Maldonado    Lotus-Mercedes   DNF

Drivers’ standings:

1    Lewis Hamilton    252
2    Nico Rosberg    199
3    Sebastian Vettel    178
4    Felipe Massa    97
5    Kimi Raikkonen    92
6    Valtteri Bottas    91
7    Daniil Kvyat    58
8    Daniel Ricciardo    55
9    Romain Grosjean    38
10    Sergio Perez    33
11    Nico Hulkenberg    30
12    Max Verstappen    26
13    Felipe Nasr    16
14    Pastor Maldonado    12
15    Fernando Alonso    11
16    Carlos Sainz    9
17    Marcus Ericsson    9
18    Jenson Button    6
19    Roberto Merhi    0
20    Will Stevens    0

Constructors’ standings:

1    Mercedes    451
2    Ferrari    270
3    Williams-Mercedes    188
4    Red Bull-Renault    113
5    Force India-Mercedes    63
6    Lotus-Mercedes    50
7    Toro Rosso-Renault    35
8    Sauber-Ferrari    25
9    McLaren-Honda    17
10    Marussia-Ferrari    0

Qualifying positions, Monza: