Ecclestone's mum-in-law freed

The mother-in-law of Bernie Ecclestone has been freed after being kidnapped in Brazil last month.
Read the full story at SkySports | News

Ecclestone's mum-in-law freed

The mother-in-law of Bernie Ecclestone has been freed after being kidnapped in Brazil last month, according to local media.
Read the full story at SkySports | News

Hamilton: I’ll be on a beach in the sunshine with a pina colada

Lewis Hamilton admitted he was surprised at his own good fortune on Sunday after winning the German Grand Prix to take a clear championship lead into Formula One’s annual European summer holidays.

“I hope everyone has an amazing holiday – I’m going to have one!” he said, shortly after posting an image on his Instagram page showing him sharing a surfboard with one of his dogs on an idyllic sea.

“I’ll be on a beach, in the sunshine with a pina colada,” he laughed. “And I will be smiling.”

Twenty-four hours after casting a sullen figure during his media duties after missing out on pole position to his Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg, the champion sulk had become pure joy.

Told by a reporter that he now led Rosberg by 19 points, he responded with unbridled pleasure. “I had not realised that,” he said. “That’s awesome.”

He went on to explain that his emotional reactions were about his own performances and not, as some observers had said, about him being a sore loser.

“It’s really good, isn’t it?” he told Sky Sports TV. “It’s really nice. I was 43 points behind – and what a day! It’s been a great race for me and I didn’t expect to be so strong on this track here like that.”

Hamilton praised his team and thanked them for preparing his car and improving his starts. “I want to thank all of them,” he said. “I’m so happy.”

He added that in his 23 years as a racing driver he had learned what he needed to do for success – which explained why he was so joyful.

“You kick yourself when things go wrong,” he said. “And today I looked after my tyres, made no mistakes, I had no ‘offs’ or anything like that.”

Just a day earlier, he was explaining why he seemed so miserable as reporters asked him if he was hurt by losing pole to Rosberg.

“No, it doesn’t hurt,” he said. “For me, it’s like when you write a bad story – you get hacked off by it. Or if you make a mistake.

“I’m not down. I’m just not happy with my own performance. I felt I was quickest and I had the speed and I brought it to qualifying, but I didn’t deliver it. I have to handle that.”

Hamilton said he had been kicking himself about his qualifying failure and felt he had let down himself and his team.

But, he added, he did not over-dwell on the past, but instead looked forward determined to do better.

“I have a lot of guys back at the factory, and also my main guys here, my mechanics, who work to build my car, who were hoping to get pole.

“I’ve got my engineers who work until 1 or 2 am every night. It’s a lot of weight when you don’t deliver the way they have delivered. That’s where I am in my head.”

He said he had not felt threatened at all during Sunday’s race and had deliberately managed his lead at around six seconds in the closing stages.

“I was taking it easy,” he laughed. “I turned the engine down when I could from the start and only put it up in the final stint. I figured that six is enough. I had that so I could keep them at bay.”

Having won six of the past seven races, Hamilton leads Rosberg by 19 points with a four-week break before the Belgian Grand Prix on August 28.

“It is more than I expected so I’ll definitely take that,” he added.

Read the full story at GRAND PRIX 247

Verstappen: Rosberg didn’t turn in… Lewis knows

 

Dutch teenager Max Verstappen claimed he would have crashed into Nico Rosberg if he had not driven off the track to avoid him on his way to finishing third in Sunday’s German Grand Prix.

The 18-year-old Red Bull driver, who claimed his fourth podium finish in eight races since promotion from the Toro Rosso team, came home behind his teammate Australian Daniel Ricciardo.

Rosberg finished fourth after being given a five-second penalty for forcing Verstappen off the track when he passed him at the hairpin.

His Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton won the race to open up a 19-point lead ahead of Rosberg, who said he was using ‘full lock’ of his steering when he passed Verstappen, in the title race.

“Can you explain to them that I was full lock on the steering wheel and I couldn’t steer more,” said Rosberg, on Mercedes team radio, after he was informed of the penalty.

He also blamed Verstappen for moving under braking, but the Dutchman hit back and said: “I think he was quite far back so he braked really late and, at one point, I thought he was going to run into me.

“So I opened up and he didn’t turn in and I had to go straight and I had to go off track otherwise we would have crashed – Lewis knows,” he added, referring to a similar incident involving Rosberg with Hamilton at the Austrian Grand Prix.

“It happened and he got a five-second penalty. So I was trying to stay within five seconds to get him back at the pit-stop.”

His Red Bull teammate Ricciardo marked his 100th Grand Prix by finishing ahead of Verstappen because he had the best of their alternative strategies for tyres, as they out-raced Ferrari to move ahead of the Italian team in the constructors’ championship.

“I definitely think I took one for the team today,” said Verstappen, who allowed Ricciardo to pass him during the race.

“But that’s alright . I think Daniel and I have a good relationship so we can do that. The most important thing was for us to be in front of Ferrari.

“That definitely worked today and we were even challenging Mercedes. We kept Nico (Rosberg) behind us on fair pace so that was good,” added Verstappen.

Read the full story at GRAND PRIX 247

Rosberg: Really disappointed everything went wrong

The stopwatch never lies they say in Formula One but in Nico Rosberg’s case it did and that was one of several things which went wrong for the German in a woeful home race on Sunday.

Rosberg was hit with a five-second time penalty for forcing Max Verstappen off the track in his bid to overtake the Red Bull on lap 29 of the 67-lap race at Hockenheim.

But when the Mercedes driver pulled into the pits, he was stationary for eight seconds instead of the required five.

“Stopwatch failure,” team boss Toto Wolff explained after the race. “The damn thing failed, it didn’t function like it should have done. Once we realised, we had to take it safe and this is why it took longer than normal.”

Rosberg, who started on pole after putting in a scorching lap under pressure in Saturday’s qualifying session, finished a disappointing fourth on Sunday. But the delay made little difference to his race.

The German lost the lead off the line to team mate and title rival Lewis Hamilton, who started alongside him on the front row, and was also swamped by Red Bull’s Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo.

The race only got worse from there for Rosberg, with the 31-year-old struggling to make up the lost ground and collecting the penalty for his pass on Verstappen, which he was surprised to get.

“Today I’m very disappointed because I had an awesome qualifying yesterday and I was feeling good,” said Rosberg.

“So I was really optimistic and thinking that I can bring it home today so just really disappointed that everything went wrong.”

Rosberg’s miserable afternoon contrasted with that of Hamilton, who cruised to a comfortable fourth win in succession.

The Briton’s lights-to-flag display of dominance, his sixth win from the last seven races, allowed him to extend his overall lead over Rosberg to 19 points.

However, despite Hamilton gaining a crucial psychological edge heading into the sport’s annual summer break, Rosberg – winner of the opening four races – said he was confident he could turn the momentum back in his favour.

“I have enough evidence to show myself that I’m always strongest after difficult moments time and time again,” said the German. “So no issues there.”

Read the full story at GRAND PRIX 247

German Grand Prix: Teams report from Hockenheim

Teams and drivers report from the German Grand Prix, Round 12 of the Formula 1 World Championship, at Hockenheim.

Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton, 1st: “What a day! Just awesome! I wasn’t expecting to be as strong as I was today. I had a great start. We have been working really hard to get off the line faster and more consistently and that hard work has clearly paid off. A big thanks also to the guys in the garage, I’m glad they get a well-earned break now as they really deserve it. I’m super happy with today – especially after yesterday. When I personally fail, knowing from 23 years of experience that I could definitely have done better, I really kick myself. Today, I have the opposite feeling. I delivered the way I’m supposed to. I know that I had the pace, I worked the tyres just right and I was never under threat from the guys behind. No mistakes this time either, so I’m very happy with that. It’s awesome to go into the break on such a high. I was 43 points behind at one stage, so to keep working on the gap turn it around like that is great. Lastly, I just want to say a big thank you to the fans. So many of them have turned up here in Germany and they’ve been so supportive. That positive energy really drives me on, so a big thank you once again to them and I hope they have a great holiday. I’m definitely going to!”

Nico Rosberg, 4th: “It was a difficult and disappointing day for me. I had a lot of wheel spin at the start. That was strange, because my start during the formation lap was good. That cost me the lead and then the next two places as well, which meant it was always going to be a difficult race from there. I was happy to fight back to P2 after a tough battle with Max and was very surprised that I got penalised. We also lost a lot of time in the pits, so a lot of things went wrong today. But that didn’t count really at the end. The penalty made it impossible beat the Red Bulls. In general, I didn’t feel as comfortable in the car as I have done in the past – especially with the rear tyres. I had some problems with them today, so I need to get my head down and find out with my engineers what went wrong. I look forward to the summer break now and want to come back stronger. I hope everybody in the team can charge the batteries. It’s very well-deserved.”

Toto Wolff, Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport: “First of all, what a fantastic drive from Lewis and a great feeling to win the German Grand Prix once again with Mercedes. This has been a very special weekend for the team and Lewis delivered a pretty perfect drive today: great start, great speed, great management. He’s gone from a big deficit to now leading the championship, so it’s been a very good streak. We have seen these waves of momentum in both directions and he is riding the crest right now. But as well as the sweet part of the afternoon, for Nico it was more bitter. The start didn’t go well for him with big wheel spin but then he struggled for pace in the race, too. There were two big talking points. First the penalty. I think you will find lots of opinions but what we really look for is consistency in the decision making. Sometimes you see cars battling and there is no consequence, other times penalties are handed out. Today’s felt tough because I think the fans want to see hard racing – and that’s what it was. Then there was the pit stop to serve the penalty. In such a high-tech sport, we don’t often have to use a stop watch in a manual process. Today, it didn’t start, so we had to take the safe option to make sure Nico observed the right amount of time. Sometimes these things happen. Overall, I think we can be very pleased with our first part of the year. 11 wins from 12 is a nice statistic to take into the summer break – but we know that our rivals are continuing to improve, too. We will take the break, recharge the batteries and come back with fresh energy in Spa.”

Paddy Lowe, Executive Director (Technical): “First, huge congratulations to Lewis and the team for a great victory at our home race here in Germany in front of our very supportive colleagues from Mercedes-Benz. It was enormously important to us to do a great job here, representing the 280,000 Mercedes employees worldwide. Lewis managed the race faultlessly from start to finish – delivering pace when necessary and saving the tyres when required. The pit crew, too, did a great job on all three of his stops, allowing him to maintain the gap he had worked hard to build to those behind. For Nico, it was a less straightforward afternoon. His clutch was over-engaged at the start, leading to excessive wheel spin and an instant drop to P4. That gave us some work to do to get him back up to second – which we managed through a combination of a good strategy and some bold overtaking on Nico’s part. Unfortunately, he was then given a five second penalty for the latter – which dropped him back once more. We did lose some time in the box as we took more safety margin than was required. But, as it turned out, this didn’t affect the result. It became clear quite soon into the final stint that we didn’t have the pace to compensate for the penalty. We were hoping that, with no soft tyres remaining, we would manage to catch and pass the Red Bulls at the end once they ran out of rubber on the super soft – but to their credit they managed it very well, so all respect to them. As they say in motorsport, you’re only as good as your last race – so it’s good to have something to savour over the next month, as that’s something we hadn’t managed in either of the previous two seasons. A very nice way to pick up the holidays, which will provide everyone with a very well-earned break before we come back even harder in the second half of the season.”

McLaren

Fernando Alonso, 12th: “It was a very tough race, possibly one of the toughest so far this season, especially towards the end, when my tyres were finished and I had to do a lot of fuel-saving. We knew before we came here that it might be a tough weekend. Ultimately, I lost 10th position at the end of the race, so we didn’t score that last point that we were hoping for. But we just didn’t have the pace throughout the entire race. Getting ready for the Belgian Grand Prix is our priority now – hopefully we’ll come back stronger after the summer break.”

Jenson Button, 8th: “I made a very good start and made up most of the places there. After that, it was just about looking after the tyres, which were degrading faster than we’d expected. We also had to do a fair amount of fuel-saving, too, particularly in the last 10 laps. In fact, I went off the circuit towards the end, just because I was doing so much fuel-saving that I hit the brakes and they were just stone cold. I hadn’t even been braking hard. At the end, I was able to pick off Valtteri, who was struggling on his tyres. It feels satisfying to have beaten both Williams, but eighth was as good as it was going to get today – we were 20 seconds behind the car in front, and there’s still quite a bit to go before we catch those guys. Still, we’ve made good progress: we’re consistently fighting in the points, and the team are doing a great job this year, bringing something new to pretty much every single race. I want to say thank-you and well done to the whole team for their efforts. I’m looking forward to coming back and fighting after the summer break – but, right now, I’m looking forward to a holiday!”

Eric Boullier, McLaren-Honda Racing Director: “Jenson drove faultlessly today, showing all his authority and intelligence to push throughout the entire race, moving into a well-deserved eighth position – after overtaking Valtteri Bottas – right at the very end. His was a fantastic effort. Fernando also looked set for a points finish, and was running 10th, closing on Jenson, when he began losing pace in the closing laps as he battled to save fuel and manage the tyres. His 12th position wasn’t a fair reflection of his efforts this afternoon. Still, after a tricky two days of practice, it was heartening to see our improved pace in the race. As we head into Formula 1’s traditional summer shutdown, I want to take this opportunity to pay tribute to the hard work, dedication and efforts of the entire team. These past six grands prix have seen an unbelievable amount of work from our mechanics, engineers, hospitality team and riggers – many of those people have not seen their homes or their loved ones for many weeks. I now sincerely hope that everyone can get some well-earned rest and recuperation – well away from the Formula 1 paddock – before returning for the next race, in Belgium, in one month’s time.”

Yusuke Hasegawa, Honda R&D Co Ltd Head of F1 Project & Executive Chief Engineer: “In comparison to yesterday’s qualifying, we were able to show better race pace today, and I am happy that Jenson and the team were able to score points with a P8 finish. It was a very difficult race for both the team and drivers, trying to manage on-track battles, fuel-saving and tyre management. Fernando also had very good race pace, but due to this, he was obliged to manage his fuel and pace at the end of the race while trying to hold off his rivals. He fought a tough fight, but was unable to maintain his position and finished in P12. Looking back at the last few races, we are now confident that our progress is definitely headed in the right direction, and we’re now aiming to make another step forward in the early part of the second half of the season. Last but not least, I would like to thank every member of the McLaren-Honda team for their brilliant work in this long and gruelling first half of the season. I hope everyone enjoys their time off and can come back refreshed for the latter half.”

Williams

Valtteri Bottas, 9th: “The race was going OK until Force India managed to get in front of us with the undercut. They did a three-stop and we tried a two-stop. There was definitely something wrong with our tyre calculations, because there was no way to get to the end on that set of tyres. The stint was just way too long and that really cost us some points today.”

Felipe Massa, DNF: “It’s such a shame that someone hit my rear right tyre on the first lap because it felt like something definitely happened to that area of the car. Perhaps a toe issue or something, because the car felt undriveable. Although I tried to carry on with the race, I was suffering massively. The pace was just so slow to the point where it was better to retire than carry on. Now, I’m going to take the summer break as an opportunity to relax with my family and prepare for the second half of the season to make it much better than the first half.”

Rob Smedley, Head of Performance Engineering: “Felipe was hit in the rear in Turn 6 on lap one and there wasn’t a great deal we could do from then on. We were trying to understand what the problem was as Felipe was completely off the pace and complaining about the car. There was no alternative other than to retire because he was towards the back of the field and struggling. With Valtteri, we tried a strategy which clearly didn’t work. We deployed the wrong tactics in the race, which is something we’ve got to learn from. As a group of people, we get it right most of the time, but today we didn’t. We thought the tyres would go to the end but they didn’t and so ninth was the best we could achieve, unfortunately. It hasn’t been a great day but this is where we see the mettle of everyone moving forward and make sure we don’t let our heads go down. We’ll carry on improving and trying to do the absolute maximum that we can do with the car that we’ve got. We’ll keep pushing on.”

Haas

Romain Grosjean, 13th: “It wasn’t too bad. I think we had a good pace, but the middle stint behind the Renault saw my brakes massively overheat, and I lost them completely for a few laps. That clearly put us on the back foot. I couldn’t get by, and that cost us having a shot at points. We need to understand that, but generally the car behaved in the race. I’m happier this afternoon than I was yesterday. Overall, it’s been an awesome first half of the season. I want us to be able to come back and score regularly in the top-10. There are a few things we need to unlock. We’ve got the potential in the car. We just need to put it all together.”

Esteban Gutierrez, 11th: “It wasn’t an easy start. I had too much wheel spin and I was passed by quite a few cars. We were the only ones on soft tyres, which was an aggressive strategy, so we were expecting to struggle for the first stint. After that I started to hold as much as I could and then began to fight back in the second stint. I was pushing all the way, trying to recover as much as I could, as well as trying to handle fuel saving. We’re not satisfied where we ended up, as we didn’t get the points we were aiming for. Now we head into the summer break, which will be good for the team after four races in five weeks. We’re all going to recharge our batteries and come back stronger, fighting for points at Spa.”

Guenther Steiner, Team Principal: “In general, we had a good race, though Esteban had a bad start. We need to look into that, and do better there, because we finished 11th again, one position out of the points. We basically started 18th and 20th and not 11th and 20th. Romain went from 20th to 13th. There wasn’t a lot more to do there, and obviously Esteban finished 11th. The car showed the pace and we had no mistakes, but when you start in those positions, sometimes that’s the best you can achieve. We know the pace is there. We can do it, we just have to pull it all together and get it done. We’ve showed that we can do that, which is ultimately a positive for the team moving forward.”

Toro Rosso

Carlos Sainz, 14th: “It wasn’t the best of races… Starting from P15 because of the three position grid penalty meant it was never going to be easy, but we had a good start and the first part of the race wasn’t’ that bad. We were able to overtake quite a few cars, make a good recovery and get very close to the points positions, racing in P11. It even looked like another comeback was possible, but we lost quite a lot of time during our first pit-stop, and that cost us the places we had gained earlier out on track. From then onwards we were unfortunately stuck in P14, which is definitely not where we wanted to be. I’d say it’s not the perfect way to end the first half of the season but in general I’m happy with my performance so far this year – now it’s time for a well-deserved break but I can’t wait to go back racing again in a few weeks’ time!”

Daniil Kvyat, 15th: “Our race pace was a bit more consistent today and we had some good laps, even though we were missing a bit of grip and power in the straight lines. It was therefore difficult to battle the other guys ahead of us and it was a tough race, where we ended quite far away from the points. We now need to see where we can improve, try and maximize our strong points and come back stronger for the second part of the season…today’s pace is not enough. I will now use the summer break to recharge my batteries and come back as fresh as possible for the next races.”

Franz Tost, Team Principal: “Definitely not the way we wanted to end the first half of the season… If I say the truth, we were hoping for a better result today – in the end, we didn’t score any points while our direct competitors did. We lost some time during our pit-stops and, even though the drivers were fighting hard, the car just didn’t have the pace to finish in the top ten. As we scored points in nearly all the last races, we need to investigate why it wasn’t possible to do the same today. Having said that, I’m positive that we can be back in the points in the second half of the season. We just need to continue working hard. The summer break will be very useful for everyone and I expect the team to be refreshed and fully motivated to kick-off the second half of the year at Spa and at our home race in Monza.”

Renault

Kevin Magnussen, 16th: “We decided on a two-stop strategy before the race as all the data pointed to it being the correct thing to do, however we saw that the three-stop strategy of our rivals worked better today. This wasn’t immediately obvious and we were too committed to the two-stop so it’s a lesson learnt. We were too slow on the soft compound on the final stint and our degradation on the supersoft was greater than expected which undid our opportunities of finishing higher today.”

Jolyon Palmer, 19th: “Everything was really positive coming into this event, and I had a good start ; I think I was up to tenth, so it’s a disappointing result today. I had a big lock up in turn two and massively flat-spotted my tyres. I could barely see where I was going because of the vibrations and I tipped a Williams whilst trying to hold on from one of the McLarens. This damaged my front wing which we changed at the second pit stop. After that there wasn’t much I could do. It’s a shame but we can take the positives, put the rest behind us and focus on the second half of the season.”

Fred Vasseur, Team Principal: “Despite not getting the result we wanted today there are a lot of positive to take from this weekend. We reached Q2 in qualifying with Jolyon and we showed that we are able to regularly fight with Haas and Toro Rosso during races, which wasn’t the case in previous events. Both drivers fought hard today however neither was able to finish strongly. The two stop strategy ultimately didn’t work out for Kevin due to timing and better than expected pace from our rivals in the latter part of the race. Jolyon made a super start but unfortunately flat-spotted his tyres so wasn’t able to deliver on the potential shown from his qualifying. We’ll come back after the break fighting.”

Force India

Nico Hülkenberg, 7th: “Seventh was probably the best result available to us today, so it feels good to get the maximum from our race and score some important points. The team did a great job with the strategy because we went into the race believing a two-stopper was possible, but then made an early decision to switch to three stops. It was definitely the right way to go and allowed me to take seventh place in the final few laps. The tyre degradation was very high so most of the race was about managing the tyres. It was also quite a lonely and straightforward race because my main fight was against Bottas and we were running different strategies. So it’s a happy Nico and a happy team. We can look forward to the summer break and aim to carry this momentum forward in the second part of the season.”

Sergio Perez, 10th: “It’s safe to say today was the worst start in my whole career. I had a lot of wheelspin at the start and dropped back to P16 – so it was a long fight back through the pack. The team had to think on their feet and tweak the strategy to get me back into a competitive position. Degradation was quite high, especially when following other cars, and I spent a lot of time in the middle of the race fighting with Fernando [Alonso]. In the last few laps I was running out of tyres, but I knew Fernando was in a similar situation, so when I saw an opportunity I knew I had to take it. I honestly didn’t think we would score points after turn one, but we did it. We go on holiday now, proud of the incredible work we have done as a team in the first half of the season. I am confident we have a lot of good days ahead of us in the final nine races, but for now it’s important to get some rest.”

Robert Fernley, Deputy Team Principal: “It’s satisfying to move five points closer to fourth place in the championship and end the first half of the season with a double points finish. When you look at how the race unfolded, there wasn’t much more available to us and the team did an excellent strategic job to help Nico come out on top in the battle against Bottas. Sergio’s race became a recovery drive following a very poor getaway and, all things considered, the team did a good job to pick up the final point. The stage is now set for a very close battle in the second part of the season, but we feel we can grow even stronger in the races to come following the break.”

Sauber

Marcus Ericsson, 18th: “Bearing in mind that we started from the last row, it was a decent race. It was a good start during which I could overtake some cars going down to turn 1. But then one car in front of me had a moment and braked a lot. I had to brake as well, and fell back to last position after the first corner. That was disappointing after having a good start. I am definitely not happy with P18, but we knew it was going to be a difficult race. We did what we could.”

Felipe Nasr, DNF: “It was not a good day for me. My start went well, so I was able to gain a few positions. I felt my tyres were losing grip quickly. We lost some time during the first pit stop, as my call to pit came too late. Towards the end of the race, I suddenly lost power. I had to stop the car due to a technical issue. It is a shame to finish a race this way, but this is also part of racing sometimes.”

Monisha Kaltenborn, Team Principal: “A difficult weekend for us, which started off well, but ended on Sunday in P18 as well as with a retirement. Now we will turn our focus to the races after the summer break, where we bring new parts on the car side. We do expect an improvement in terms of the performance of the Sauber C35-Ferrari.”

Manor

Pascal Wehrlein, 17th: “I’m really happy. It was a very straightforward race, so there were no opportunities to improve further through the field, but we still achieved our target of finishing ahead of Sauber and we got a Renault too. So it was a good race. I was on a three stop strategy, so it meant that there were many cars to overtake – and overtake again – so it made the race very interesting and fun. For most of the race I was running without a front-wing end plate, but it didn’t hurt us too much. It was a very special atmosphere and you could really feel the crowd. Before the race, we stopped in the Motodrom to greet the fans and they were really great and supportive. It is something very special to see so many German flags and I think they got a good race today after so long without a German Grand Prix. I’m happy that I got a good result too. Now we have the Summer Break and though I’m not that eager to hang up my helmet for four weeks, everyone in the team deserves a holiday, so my thanks to them and I’m looking forward to us coming back stronger than ever in Spa.”

Rio Haryanto, 20th: “Overall, the race wasn’t too bad for me. We were still fighting with Sauber, which is what we need to keep doing. Early in the race, I saw an opportunity to pass my team-mate when the gap between us came right down. Unfortunately it didn’t work out and we ended up touching, so I damaged my front wing in the process. We kept going until my first pit stop and in the meantime I was able to keep in touch with Ericsson, just ahead between Pascal and me. We knew we had some damage, but we kept going until our first planned stop, then made the nose change at the same time. It takes a bit longer, so I lost some time, but after that I was catching back up to Ericsson and trading places with Nasr as our respective strategies played out. It was a good weekend for us and a nice result for the team at an important race for us. Not too much rest though; we’re busy working to ensure I continue into the second half of the season. But I do wish the rest of the team a good break because it has been a very long 12 races and everyone has worked incredibly hard. My thanks to them for a good job so far.”

Dave Ryan, Racing Director: “It’s really good to end the first half of the season on a positive note and with a good team result at Pascal and Mercedes-Benz’ home Grand Prix. Our strategy worked well and our performance was strong versus the cars around us, which enabled us to displace Sauber and a Renault. We did pick up a bit of damage on both cars when we had contact between our two drivers, which was less than ideal, but fortunately it didn’t hurt our race as much as it could and obviously we need to avoid that in the future and focus on the fight with our competitors. As we embark on the summer break, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank everyone in the team – trackside and back at base – for a tremendous effort in the first 12 races. It has been a real challenge and a huge amount of hard work, but we head into the shutdown period with our first point and ahead of Sauber in the championship. I look forward to seeing everyone refreshed in four weeks’ time so we can keep things that way.”

Ferrari

Kimi Raikkonen, 6th: “It was a very quiet and boring race, nothing much happened. At the start I had some wheelspin and lost one position on Sebastian. With new tyres the car felt pretty ok but then I was starting having understeer and oversteer, as basically we lacked grip. In the last stint we had to do fuel saving so there was not much to do. Obviously we have to improve the car in all areas, if we add downforce it will definitively help us. We all want to do better and it’s painful to see that we are not where we want to be, but I believe in the team. We need some time and hard work and we’ll get there. It’s important for us to find improvements and work as a group.”

Sebastian Vettel, 5th: “We’re usually faster in the race than we are in qualifying, but this wasn’t the case today: we were sliding around too much and this affected the tyres as well. Fifth and sixth place was the best we could do but we obviously can’t accept that, we will be working to improve and we know what to do, the stuff that’s coming up for the next races has always been part of our plan. The first part of the season didn’t go as we wanted, we need to work on ourselves and I, for one, had too many ups and downs which cost me some points. But we’ll keep fighting. As for today’s race, the decision to fit Softs in the end was a pretty straightforward one, as we had a new set available. I decided to stay out for some more laps as I did not want to go too long with the last set, with hindsight it was probably a too conservative choice as we would have had a chance to put some pressure on the car ahead. The atmosphere today, with all the German and the Ferrari flags, was incredible and from this point of view it was my best home Grand Prix ever!”

Maurizio Arrivabene: “While one week ago, in Hungary, our race pace was totally respectable, here in Hockenheim we experienced again some issues with both mechanical grip and downforce, which unfortunately are not unknown to us. Obviously, we must react as quickly as possible to cure these problems and most of all we must lose not to too much time in the process. Having been jumped in the Constructors’ championship only pushes us to react, and perform better in the second part of the season, after the summer break.”

Red Bull

Daniel Ricciardo, 2nd: “I’m very pleased with today obviously. To beat one Mercedes is nice but for both cars to beat one Mercedes and the pole-sitter was really good. In the first part of the race I was sitting in third and the pace was okay but I think I really came to life in the second half of the race and that’s when I was able to show a bit more speed and capture second place. It was the best we could do today and I’m now happy to go into the summer break with another podium in the bag. For me the strategy worked very well, I was comfortable on the supersofts and it worked out my pace was better in the end with that tyre. Drinking out of the shoe on the podium is an Australian thing. It’s called a “shoey”. I said if I win a race this year I’ll do it, but just in case, I thought I’ll do it next time I’m on the podium. The last few races I got a bit more out of the race weekends and it’s nice to get a bit of momentum now before the summer break. Just to stand up there on the podium is the best feeling in the world.”

Max Verstappen, 3rd: “The start was very strong and during the race we had good pace. We didn’t expect it to be that good this weekend so we definitely maximised the result. Strategy doesn’t always work for you but I took one for the team today and we still finished second and third and in front of Ferrari, which was the main aim. Rosberg just braked very late and then didn’t turn into the corner, that incident cost me a lot of time, he pushed me wide and put me in a bad situation. I then let Daniel go by as was the strategy of the team, in the end the most important thing was to score the points and move up in the Constructors’ Championship. Finishing only 10 seconds back from Mercedes is very good. It is still too early to say how close we can get by the end of the season as I think they may have some in reserve. It’s good to go on a little break now and spend some time with family and then be ready to go again in Spa and see all the Dutch fans.”

Christian Horner, Team Principal: “A fantastic team performance today, particularly from the drivers starting from the second row of the grid. After they both made strong starts, Daniel gave Max just enough space at turn one, though it looked pretty tight and from there on the drivers settled in to their race. We elected at the first stop to split the strategies, putting Daniel on to the soft tyre and Max on to the supersoft, so they were both running slightly different races. When we pitted Max to cover Rosberg he did manage to get a run on him and then obviously Rosberg picked up a time penalty down at turn six, so the objective thereafter was for both drivers to clear him at the pit stop. With Daniel being on the faster supersoft tyre, he quickly closed on Max who allowed him to pass after the request from the team, to not lose any time, allowing them both to get out ahead of Rosberg at the final pit stop. To finish up second and third on the podium here at Hockenheim, to have outscored Ferrari and go into the summer break with a 14 point advantage over them in the Constructors’ Championship is a great end to a really strong first half of the year. Time for a well-earned break for all of the team, to recharge their batteries and come back for the final nine races, where there are circuits on the calendar that will hopefully suit us. We’ve exceeded all of our expectations in the first half of the season. I don’t think pre-season any of us could have imagined to have been second in the Constructors’ Championship after 11 rounds.”

Pirelli

Paul Hembery, Pirelli Motorsport Director: “It was a race during which strategy became very important. During the first laps with heavy fuel we experienced higher thermal degradation than expected, and this led many to select the three-stop strategy that we identified yesterday as being theoretically fastest. It was very much a question of monitoring the wear and degradation rates and thinking on their feet, in order to adapt the race strategy to changing circumstances.”

Read the full story at GRAND PRIX 247

WATCH: Ted's Race Notebook

Watch as Ted Kravitz brings you all the news from the paddock after Lewis Hamilton claimed victory at the German GP.
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Fernando Alonso: Fuel saving made German GP McLaren's 'worst race'

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Esteban Gutierrez plans Daniel Ricciardo talks after criticism

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German Grand Prix: Top three press conference

Transcript from the 2016 German Grand Prix press conference at Hockenheim, featuring top three: race winner Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), second placed Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull) and third placed Max Verstappen (Red Bull).

Podium interviews conducted by Kai Ebel

Lewis, congratulations. First of all, give us inside view of your rocket start, that we all have seen there?
Lewis Hamilton: Well, first please let me start with a big thank you to all the fans that have come out here in Germany. To see so many people here… great sportsman(ship) from the people here. I’ve got a lot of fans out here and I just appreciate you all coming. What a race! Obviously yesterday, second place, but what a great start. My engineers did a fantastic job. The balance was amazing. It was just about keeping it cool and looking after the engine. I’m just so happy that I can be up here for Mercedes-Benz, who I have been with since I was 13, so this is a very, very proud position for me to be in, so big thank you to the team who, as I said, did an amazing job.

I see from the expression on your face that you changed totally from yesterday to today and then you had the guys from Linkin Park here, so they brought you a lot of luck?
LH: I think to day I didn’t make any mistakes, so in my heart I’m happy with what I did today. I came to do a job… yesterday wasn’t perfect, but you learn from those things and today was a real show of looking at the glass half full and filling it up today.

Right behind you was a big bullfight, led by Daniel Ricciardo who smells really of champagne. So after this champagne shower, how about some German beer?
Daniel Ricciardo: Yeah, I had a little bit yesterday at the autograph session. This is two weekends in a row now with a podium and one of the most refreshing things is seeing so many fans back in Germany. It’s obviously great to have the race back here after a year off. So thanks for all the support. Thanks to Red Bull Racing. I think it’s the first double podium for us in over a year. So it’s awesome to close out the first part of the season. And mum and dad are here. It was my dad’s birthday yesterday, so… they don’t get enough recognition, so thank you guys.

Daniel, tell me just quickly, how could get by this guy [Verstappen] really quick and supported by so many Dutch guys here?
DR: That I see a few Australian flags around. There are a few more Dutch, but I appreciate the Aussie ones, so thanks guys. It was a race of strategy at first. It was really close in the first corner with myself and Max. He had a good run on the outside and then on the supersoft I was much more comfortable and we had good pace for the last half of the race. We really capitalised on a good day. We had a good car. Obviously we couldn’t win but second and third isn’t too bad, so thanks again.

Max, coming to you, being on the podium in front of lots of kinsmen here from the Netherlands. So, first of all, tell me about the start and why you couldn’t hold it then in front of Danny?
Max Verstappen: We had a good start and from there on I think the pace was pretty good. I was enjoying it and then we chose to do two different strategies on the cars so I let Daniel by and from there on I think we played really well as a team. To get a double podium out of it was the main target and to score more points than Ferrari and that’s what we definitely did today.

Third position: is it enough to make a party tonight or you’re going home on the German autobahn with all those guys in the caravan?
MV: I am going home but it will be a nice homecoming that’s for sure.

Thanks you so much. Coming back to you Lewis, you must feel like in heaven – four in a row now. So once you’re in heaven, now we have a big break, how about some skydiving, because you love adventure holidays?
LH: I won’t be going skydiving, but I’ll definitely be relaxing. I’ll have my dogs with me and with family and friends. I think the whole team – everyone back at the factory and everyone here – have worked so hard this first half of the season and they all need a break, so I think it’s really well earned by everyone, so thank you.

Lewis, just after the national anthem I saw you standing, for a long time, staring down the inside line into Turn One. Just considering it, presumably visualising it. It obviously worked.
LH: I was kind-of touched after the national anthem. The lady sang so beautifully. After that it was really just trying to stay… keeping cool, trying to see the line, because the track’s actually not flat there. It’s uphill from me going across to where Nico was and yeah, of course, I needed to put my car alongside him somehow. I was hoping for a great start. Those starts have been inconsistent and you never know what you’re going to get. But just trying to understand the circumstances ahead of me. But first, I want to say a big thank you to this team. It’s been a hard slog for everyone in the team, for the whole year and obviously with ups and downs and the difficulties that we’ve had, the real strength that we’ve shown, through and through, these last races has been inspiring for me. Seeing them coming back, week after week, the work that gets put in, inspires me to drive like I did today. So, I really owe it to them and excited now, get to go on holiday. This is the best way to go on holiday.

Daniel, a Red Bull double podium as you just mentioned there and Red Bull now up into second in the Constructors’ Championship, ahead of Ferrari by 14 points going into the summer break. Obviously the story of the race was the split strategies: you and Lewis both going onto the soft tyre, Max and Nico going onto the supersoft. It obviously worked out well for you today but you also looked, the way you were driving, it looked like you had a taste for it today. You were pushing very, very hard and trying to get onto the back of Lewis.
DR: Yeah, definitely. We obviously wanted to finish the first part of the season on a high and after Friday’s long runs we knew we would probably be more competitive in the race stint than we were in Budapest. And obviously we had a little sniff at the start of the race in Budapest, so yeah, we knew that we could have something on. I was trying to make the most of it as always but knowing we probably had a better chance today, it was obviously a nice little motivation to try to make the most of it. The start initially felt quite good, obviously Nico’s was quite poor so we got past him, and then I covered the inside in Turn One but then Max had a good run on the outside and it was very close with us. We obviously kept it on track, much to my disappointment he pulled off the move at Turn One. Then it was trying to keep Nico back on the first lap. It was a good little battle there for a few corners and that was quite important for my race, to then keep him behind and focus on what I needed to do. The first two stints, we went supersoft-soft. We were in the race but nothing… I wouldn’t say the pace was enough to really make a massive jump on the lead, or the top two – but then once we put the supersofts on, the last two stints, that’s where I really felt like I could push the car. It came alive, and that’s where in the end we got the second place. We had good pace and it was nice. As Lewis said, nice to go on the summer break with a result I’m happy with. Two weekends in a row now it’s a podium and, for the team, we’re now second in the Constructors’ so I think we can be really proud, both of us, to split the Mercedes today. It’s a really good effort.

Max, coming to you, obviously you were on the other side of that split strategy. You complained in the second stint that the supersoft was not the race tyre for today. Tell us a little bit about that, and why not, and also tell us in detail about your fight with Nico Rosberg for which he was given a penalty.
MV: First of all, the start was good. So I went from fourth to second so I was happy with that. I think in the first stint the pace was pretty good. I could see Lewis and he was not pulling away too much, so I was just controlling it and from there on we went onto the second set of supersofts but they felt pretty weak and easy to destroy the tyres. Yeah, just didn’t feel great. I couldn’t really push in that stint so I had to back-off. Once I got onto the soft tyre, yeah, it was a little bit better but of course the soft is not as strong as the supersoft tyre, so I saw Daniel behind me charging on a supersoft because Nico passed me and pushed me a bit wide, so he got a five-second penalty for that. I was still following him but then, of course, Daniel with the supersoft was charging, so I let him go by, and from there on, yeah, it was pretty OK, and once I went onto the last set of tyres, the pace was there again but once you are behind someone within two seconds, you can’t really push any more. You are just understeering and you are waiting. That was it. In the end it is a good result for the team and we are in front of Ferrari now and that was the main target. I think as a team we can be happy.

Press Conference

Max, you mentioned that you let Daniel past to help the team. Would you have done the same if it was for the first place?
MV: I don’t know, ‘cos we are not driving for the first position. Difficult to answer that one.

A question for Daniel. Daniel, we heard you saying about Esteban Gutiérrez, “he’s one of my favourites, I love this guy”, what was the reason for that?
DR: Errr… Yeah. To be honest, off the track, I have no problem at all with Esteban. I think he’s actually one of the nicer guys – but just on the track just lately, it’s come up the last few races that a few of us haven’t been that impressed with the blue flags. We’ve discussed it in drivers’ meetings. I’ve been in the position and I know it sucks, it sucks to move out of the line and let the leaders through – but it seems particularly the last three races in a row… everyone is doing an OK job and it seems like he’s doing a less good job than the others. A bit of frustration obviously. I was trying to say it as politely as possible but, yeah. I think because he’s been told already, he knows that a few aren’t that impressed with his blue flag handling. I thought by now the message would have gone through but for me at least today… I lost more time behind him than anyone else.

Question for Lewis. What happened to your starts compared to the beginning of the season, what do you do better now?
LH: It’s kind of the luck of the draw. We have worked very, very hard. Obviously I have a guy that I’m working with very, very closely and it’s been an up-and-down season and it’s not his fault or not my fault, it’s just the way these new clutch-regs are and how sensitive the clutches are. I think we’ve worked, and worked and worked, and just consistency and really trying to be precise with the whole procedure. And I think today the procedure, the last two races, the procedure’s been spot-on, pretty much. Today was definitely the best one I would say. Yeah, it’s just a work in progress.

Max and Daniel, was it something that you spoke about before the race, the possibility of switching positions if strategy called for it or was it a bit of a surprise, Max, to be asked to cede your place?
MV: No, I think in general, on this track, you have a lot of possibilities so definitely we talked about it and I think we did a good job on that today.
DR: Well, firstly, top of the morning to you, Graeme. Oh! Scottish!
MV: He’s had a bit too much champagne, that’s the problem. I think he’s drunk!
LH: It’s the mixture of champagne and his foot juices.
MV: Sweat and champagne is a bad mix, I think.
DR: I wanted you to ask me a question all weekend and I was waiting to say that and I just blew it! Alright. Sorry. Viva Scotland. Yeah, it wasn’t really the intention to do a three stop at the start of the race. We knew there was a possibility but it was to try and do two and then it looked, as the race was going, that it was more and more likely a three. I think how it worked – because both myself and Max were in front of Nico at the time, we’d split the Mercedes, one of us was trying to cover what Nico did and that then allowed me to try something else and that was I think the reason why we split the tyres. As I said, the supersoft worked a lot better, I was happier with that tyre the last two stints. That was how I guess I got the second place. I think that was all it was and obviously once I caught Max, I think it was in the second last stint, I had the DRS but he made life easy for me so that was, let’s say, a good little bit of teamwork for us and obviously the team was happy that we played nice and got maximum points today.

Daniel and Max, OK you said in Hungary that you expect better performance than in Hungary. What do you expect in Spa which will probably suit your car?
DR: For us… to be honest, I haven’t thought that far ahead yet but I think our performances this year are much more representative of 2014 and 2014 Spa was very good, for me, particularly. This year, I think we’ve surprised ourselves on some circuits. Coming in to this weekend, after Friday we saw our long run pace and it looked good but before Friday we didn’t really expect to have two Red Bulls on the podium here. Let’s see what happens in Spa. I think we will have a pretty good car around there. I think for now our target is keep being at least second best. Obviously we want to win but if we can keep staying ahead of Ferrari then that’s good for us for now. As you say, I think we were within ten seconds of the lead today and that’s obviously a nice start so hopefully Spa can be a bit closer again and keep chipping away.

Max, I guess judging by the crowd today, one of the things you can expect is a lot of support, right?
MV: Yeah, I think so. Already here, my feeling was that I saw more Dutch flags than German flags. It was very nice to see and the track is just great to drive and hopefully the car will work again. We didn’t expect to be that competitive here and normally Spa should be more competitive so let’s see. I think this was a very good weekend and hopefully we can have a good weekend again in Spa.

Lewis, at the end of the race, these guys were only six or seven seconds behind you; what do you see for Spa-Francorchamps which looks like a good circuit for them? Is Spa potentially a place where you might take your engine penalty?
LH: It depends. Today I saved my engine a lot which is why they closed up as much as they did. I only needed a six second gap really, they wanted me to keep six seconds. It went from eleven to seven quite quickly and then I had to get back on it, but generally I was looking after the engine up front and never felt like I was under threat. Without a doubt, they were fantastically quick this weekend. I think naturally it wasn’t a problem for me but obviously I assume Nico struggled behind them so it’s still… it looks like it’s going to be close. I think Spa… hopefully I’ve saved enough of my engine today hoping that I would be able to use it at the next race. It will either be the next race or Monza, because I’m going to run out of engines soon.

Lewis, I would love to know if in this race it didn’t matter about pole position. It’s important but anyway you went in front. I want to know for Spa, do you have the same feeling, even if you are in second place (on the grid) if it’s possible to overtake, what are the possibilities in Spa?
LH: Every track is different for the start in terms of what follows from the actual start. Spa is a very very short stint down to turn one. I’ve been in first before and then you get towed massively up to turn three or whatever it is. Les Combes? I don’t know the names of all the corners. It’s a difficult one. Sometimes if you’re in second and you think you’re going to tow someone and then you get perfectly alongside… I think for us it’s still the best position for us to be in. But the last two races have showed that pole is not everything and obviously the starts can really make a difference, so I will continue to work on the starts as I have been and try to continue to hopefully improve them.

Max, going back to the battle with Nico in the hairpin, when did you realise that he was going to overshoot the braking point and have you been sure right away that it had to be a penalty for him?
MV: Well, I think pretty sure that he was quite far, so he braked really late and at one point I thought he was going to run into me so I opened up and then he didn’t turn in, he was just driving straight so I had to go off the track otherwise we would have crashed. That’s not very handy. Lewis knows. That happened and he got a five second penalty, so for me it was just trying to stay within these five seconds to get him back after the pit stop.

Max, can you explain why the supersoft tyre did not work for you as the race tyre?
MV: I don’t know, it’s a bit tricky to say but I think when you are on high fuel and you go on a very soft tyre it’s always a bit harder on that tyre and I maybe didn’t have the right wing offset. Yeah, it made it a lot harder so I think that’s why… maybe with the track quite hard on the tyres it just didn’t work out well, and then of course, when you go to the end of the race, a softer tyre works pretty well because then the car’s a bit lighter and it doesn’t push that much on the tyre.

Read the full story at GRAND PRIX 247

Max: I took one for the team

Max Verstappen says he "took one for the team" at the German Grand Prix as the Red Bull driver finished third behind team-mate Daniel Ricciardo at Hockenheim.
Read the full story at SkySports | News

Hamilton denies being in lead!

Lewis Hamilton still doesn't accept he holds the lead of the world championship despite being 19 points ahead of team-mate Nico Rosberg in the standings following his dominant win of the German GP. 
Read the full story at SkySports | News

Nico Rosberg surprised 'awesome' move on Max Verstappen penalised

Mercedes Formula 1 driver Nico Rosberg says he was surprised to be penalised for what he initially thought was an "awesome" German Grand Prix overtaking move on Max Verstappen
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German GP: Questioning Ferrari's strategy a mistake, Vettel admits

Sebastian Vettel has admitted he was wrong to question the Ferrari Formula 1 team's strategy in a radio row during the German Grand Prix
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German Grand Prix post-race press conference full transcript

German GP post-race FIA F1 press conference full transcript with Lewis Hamilton, Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen
Read the full story at Formula 1 news - Autosport

Vettel plays down radio mutiny

Sebastian Vettel has played down his apparent mutiny over Ferrari's race strategy midway through the German GP as the Scuderia fell behind Red Bull in the standings.
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Rosberg unhappy with penalty

Nico Rosberg says he was 'surprised' to be handed a penalty for his clash with Max Verstappen midway through the German GP.
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German GP: Red Bull's Verstappen thought he and Rosberg would crash

Max Verstappen said Formula 1 rival Nico Rosberg left him no option but to go off to avoid a crash in their German Grand Prix battle
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German Grand Prix: A perfect day for Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton enjoyed a perfect day at the German Grand Prix winning comfortably after starting second on the grid, extending his points lead in the championship while his Mercedes teammate and title rival tripped up at the start, ending fourth on home soil.

For Hamilton the race was decided from the moment he hit the gas off the line and into Turn 1 and accelerated into the lead while Rosberg was slow in the second phase of his drag to Turn 1. By the time he exited the first corner he was staring at the back end of the Red Bull duo and Hamilton was off in the distance.

Although Max Verstappen slipped into second place on the opening lap, it was Daniel Ricciardo who delivered a great performance to finish second and Verstappen third.

Report in progress…

Read the full story at GRAND PRIX 247

Hamilton wins to increase lead

Lewis Hamilton has increased his lead of the world championship to 19 points with victory of the German GP.
Read the full story at SkySports | News

Lewis Hamilton stretches Formula 1 lead with German Grand Prix win

Lewis Hamilton extended his championship lead before Formula 1's summer break with a commanding victory in the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim
Read the full story at Formula 1 news - Autosport

WATCH: Rosberg 'forces off' Max

One of the highlights of the German Grand Prix saw Nico Rosberg perform an aggressive overtake on Max Verstappen as he tried to fight his way back into contention at his home Grand Prix.
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WATCH: When Brundle met Rosberg

Martin Brundle sat down with Nico Rosberg to discuss a host of topics including his title battle with Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton.
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Halo delay: The Formula 1 drivers' verdicts

Formula 1 drivers have been split in their reaction to the decision to postpone the introduction of the halo head protection device to 2018
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Verstappen: Maybe I’ll buy Kimi an ice cream

Red Bull ace Max Verstappen says he is not fazed by the furore surrounding his recent on-track battle with Kimi Raikkonen in Hungary.

Although the FIA didn’t penalise him, F1 veteran Raikkonen complained vociferously about the Dutch teenager having moved in the braking zone.

“Kimi doesn’t say much but when he does, he usually has a point,” world champion Lewis Hamilton said at Hockenheim and most of the rest of the grid agrees too.

“I think all of the drivers are against what Max did,” Verstappen’s former Toro Rosso teammate Carlos Sainz is quoted by the Spanish sports daily Marca.

“Because we say that doesn’t mean we’ve never done it or been tempted but I think it shouldn’t be allowed because it’s very dangerous,” he added.

18-year-old Verstappen, however, says he hasn’t talked the incident over with the Ferrari driver.

“No, it was not necessary,” he told Stuttgarter Nachrichten newspaper at Hockenheim.

But when told about the widespread criticism by his racing colleagues, Verstappen added: “The stewards had all the information and did nothing. So everything was ok.

“Also, I have to say that we’re racing in Formula 1, not doing some sort of Sunday drive where you say ‘Oh you’re faster so I’ll let you pass’.”

So when asked if a gesture to Raikkonen was necessary, Verstappen joked to the Finnish broadcaster MTV: “Maybe I’ll buy him an ice cream. We can have an ice cream together. I think he likes them, and so do I.”

Finally, Verstappen was asked why his famous father Jos is now only rarely seen at grands prix.

Max answered: “My career seems to be in the right direction, so I think he has done his main job in bringing me to F1.

“He also has a family and a home and at some point I have to go my own way.”

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Lauda: We need to end this under investigation craze

Formula 1’s top teams are pleading with race director Charlie Whiting to ease the over regulation of tyhe sport which is serving only confuse and alienate fans.

“F1 needs more easily understood rules so that what people watch on TV corresponds to reality. We can no longer keep changing the outcome as we go. It’s a serious mistake,” F1 legend and Mercedes team chairman Niki Lauda told Brazil’s Globo Esporte.

“We need to end this ‘under investigation’ for every moment we see,” said Lauda. “Like the stupid situation in Budapest, where six hours after qualifying we didn’t know if Nico (Rosberg) was really on pole. How do we explain all this to the viewer? It’s crazy.”

In Thursday’s Strategy Group meeting, officials for Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull thought they had made progress when it comes to not always penalising drivers for simply putting wheels over the lined extremities of the track.

But then in Friday practice at Hockenheim, the FIA’s Whiting was once again strictly enforcing so-called ‘track limits’.

“We all asked Charlie to stop this thing of punishing a driver for being a few centimetres over a line,” Lauda insisted.

“We said seeing drivers pushing is spectacular and good for F1. Charlie said he didn’t agree but would meet our request, but it wasn’t true,” he added.

Indeed, there are suggestions other top teams are similarly losing patience with the ever strict and constantly changing rules of F1, with Ferrari and Red Bull also backing Lauda and Mercedes.

 

Read the full story at GRAND PRIX 247

Alonso: I’ve already given up… in each race rules change

Double F1 World Champion Fernando Alonso has revealed he has “given up” trying to follow the complex and ever-changing F1 rules.

He is apparently referring to yellow flag rule changes, the on again, off-again radio clampdown, rules for moving in the braking zone, and ‘track limits’, all of which have been hotly debated in the Hockenheim paddock.

Asked if he will be contributing to those debates, the Spaniard was quoted by Spanish reporters as answering: “No, I’ve already given up. In each race things change, so now I just say ‘tell me what to do’ and I do it, that’s it.”

‘Track limits’, for instance, is a constantly controversial topic with only some corners strictly policed in different ways around the calendar.

Alonso said: “Today it’s this, tomorrow it could be another so I will ask the team what I have to do each time.

“In every race things change: we’re now going back to the (radio) rules of a year ago because they tried to make it super-spectacular but nothing changed or it was even worse.

“When it’s time for qualifying I will ask what I have to do so I don’t waste my time,” he added.

Read the full story at GRAND PRIX 247