Categories
Formula 1 Red Bull Racing Video

I’m your boogie man

Daniel Ricciardo, 2014 Hungarian Grand Prix

This time next week we’ll be well and truly in Australian Grand Prix mode. To help get you ready for the forthcoming season, and with a local Aussie flavour, here’s a 13-minute highlights package from 2014 that’s all about Daniel Ricciardo.

Last season Dan made his mark on the world of F1. It was a big challenge to take on the well-entrenched four-time world champion on the other side of the garage at Red Bull. Not only did Ricciardo take Vettel on, he beat him handsomely.

Moreover, Daniel showed he has balls of steel when he is on a charge. He made overtaking moves stick that he had no right to make. And he did it cleanly. Ricciardo was a breath of fresh air in 2014 and his three race wins amidst a season-long Mercedes AMG domination shows he is a superstar in the making.

Let’s hope we see a lot more of Daniel soaked in champagne atop the podium in 2015 and beyond.

Categories
Caterham Formula 1 McLaren Mercedes-Benz Video

2014 Hungarian GP four-car quali comparison

2014 Hunagrian Grand Prix qualifying

If you’re missing Formula 1 action during the off season here’s video from the Hungarian Grand Prix that will allow you to cram in four times the action in one go.

Starting from top right and moving in a clockwise direction we’ve got Jenson Button, Nico Rosberg, Sergio Perez and Marcus Ericsson. The footage was filmed during qualifying and it’s no surprise to see who was fastest.

[via WTF1]

Categories
Formula 1 Video

2014 Hungarian GP: 30 mins of onboard footage

Daniel Ricciardo, 2014 Hungarian Grand Prix

Imagine for a moment that Formula 1 has embraced the 21st century and makes onboard footage available for free online after each race. Well, you don’t have to imagine any more because thanks to French TV network Canal+ those days are almost here.

After the break you’ll get to see 30 minutes of highlights from the Hungarian Grand Prix. There’s no commentary, no ad breaks, just non-stop onboard footage, including Daniel’s march to victory. It’s totally awesome!

[Source: Canal+ | Thanks to Tom for the tip]

Categories
Formula 1 Red Bull Racing Video

I’m spinning around, move out of my way

Sebastian Vettel spins at the 2014 Hungarian Grand Prix

It’s been said that Sebastian Vettel has suffered a fair amount of bad luck so far in the 2014 Formula 1 season. Perhaps that’s all about to change as his 360° spin during the Hungarian Grand Prix shows, captured here by a fan at the race. While there was a reasonable amount of talent required to avoid major contact with the pit wall, there was also a fair degree of good fortune.

[Source: WTF1]

Categories
Formula 1 Red Bull Racing

Peter Windsor on Daniel Ricciardo

2014 Hungarian Grand Prix

If you’re still enjoying in the afterglow of Daniel Ricciardo’s win at the Hungarian Grand Prix then you probably won’t mind listening to Peter Windsor wax lyrical about the race. You can do that after the break, which includes a repeat of Windsor’s prediction that Daniel would/could win in Budapest.

Categories
Caterham F1 in pictures Ferrari Lotus McLaren Mercedes-Benz Red Bull Racing Toro Rosso

2014 Hungarian Grand Prix in pictures

2014 Hungarian Grand Prix

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

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

Categories
Ferrari Formula 1 Mercedes-Benz Red Bull Racing

2014 Hungarian GP: Post-race press conference

2014 Hungarian Grand Prix

It’s always a great feeling being a Formula 1 fan in Australia when you go to bed late at night after an Aussie victory and you wake up on Monday morning and hear all about the race win on the morning news bulletins. It’s a great way to start the week. Thank you Daniel!

The most pleasing thing about Ricciardo’s win at the Hungarian Grand Prix was the way he had to fight for it. Same with Canada, too, he hasn’t yet dominated a race from start to finish. That’s a legacy of not having the best car this year. It’s meant Daniel has had to either create opportunities for himself or take advantage of good luck coming his way during a race.

It seems odd to say it, given he’s the only non-Mercedes driver to win a race so far in 2014, but Daniel’s two wins have been great development for him as a driver. He’s still learning and he’s proving he has the bottle and the skill to fight for race wins. Let’s hope it’s not too long until we see him fighting for a world championship. Clearly, he has the class.

Even Fernando and Lewis agree, as you will read below.

[Pic: Red Bull/Getty Images]

Categories
Ferrari Formula 1 Mercedes-Benz Red Bull Racing

Daniel Ricciardo wins 2014 Hungarian GP

2014 Hungarian Grand Prix

What the hell just happened? I’ll tell you what happened, Daniel Ricciardo just won the 2014 Hungarian Grand Prix! That’s what just happened.

Proving the Murray Walkerism that “Anything can happen in Formula 1, and it usually does” Fernando Alonso finished second and Lewis Hamilton, who started from the pit lane, finished third. So, again, what the hell just happened!

The track was wet for the race start and all the drivers started on intermediates. Nico Rosberg made a clean getaway and went about opening up a sizeable gap to those behind. Valtteri Bottas showed some smarts off the line and overtook Sebastian Vettel at the first corner to claim P2.

Daniel lost a couple of places at the start and was in P6 but worked his way back to P5. Marcus Ericsson then had his most influential F1 race to date after he binned his car and invited the Safety Car onto the track.

The timing was such that Daniel was able to quickly dive into the pits for slick tyres while the first four cars had to do almost a complete lap behind the Safety Car. The wash up of all that saw a fortunate Daniel inherit the race lead.

After the Safety Car came in, off he went. The lead was lost briefly to Jenson Button, who was running intermediates on the still drying track, but that didn’t last and Dan reclaimed the lead which he held until lap 22.

Sergio Perez spun on the last corner and smashed his car into the pit wall, which brought out the Safety Car for a second time. Again, Ricciardo was quick to pit, a move which eventually worked to his benefit.

Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton was able to make solid progress through the field despite starting from pit lane and then spinning off the track momentarily on lap 2. By the end of the first Safety Car period he had risen to P7, only two places behind Rosberg.

Amazingly, as the race progressed it looked as though Hamilton could be in with a chance of victory. Fernando Alonso, too, was having a good run and inherited the lead of the race after Ricciardo came in for fresh tyres with 15 laps to go.

Daniel rejoined the race in good shape and set about chasing those ahead of him including Alonso, Hamilton and Rosberg. Alonso’s strategy required him to do 32 laps in his final stint and Hamilton, too, was on old tyres. Rosberg also came in for a pit stop, gifting P3 to Daniel, before he also started chasing the leading trio.

Alonso was able to hold Hamilton and Ricciardo at bay with clean defensive driving. However, his pace was slowing as his tyres lost more life and this closed the gap to little more than a second back to Ricciardo in P3. On newer tyres Daniel needed a couple of attempts to get past Hamilton for P2, but showed great racecraft to out manouevre his more experienced rival. He quickly caught Alonso and used DRS to great effect to maximise a half chance and take the lead.

With only three laps to go Ricciardo was able to build a safe margin, leaving Alonso to defend against Hamilton and a super quick Rosberg. Somehow the superior Mercedes pair could not do what Daniel did and overtake Alonso. The race settled with a totally unpredictable first three and Rosberg left to rue his chances in P4.

Felipe Massa was fifth ahead of Kimi Raikkonen (his best result since returning to Ferrari). Sebastian Vettel was seventh and had only himself to blame after a final corner spin on lap 32. He was lucky not to have crashed out but did sufficient damage to his tyres to ruin his chances of a better result.

Valtteri Bottas’ day was cruelled by unfortunate pit timing and he could only manage P8. While Jean-Eric Vergne and Jenson Button rounded out the top 10.

His second grand prix win seemed to sit better with a beaming Daniel Ricciardo, who showed he has no fear or talent deficit with the world champions he’s mixing it with. It’s a great result for the young Aussie as the teams go into the mid-season break before racing returns at Spa in late August.

[Pic: Red Bull/Getty Images]

Categories
Formula 1 Mercedes-Benz Red Bull Racing

2014 Hungarian GP: Qualifying report

2014 Hungarian Grand Prix

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Categories
F1 in pictures Formula 1 Red Bull Racing

Mark Webber’s F1 race wins in pictures

Mark Webber's nine F1 victories

It’s our turn now to pay respects to Mark Webber’s 12-year Formula 1 career. We’re doing so by offering up a pictorial reminder of Mark’s nine grand prix wins. On the one had his maiden victory at the 2009 German Grand Prix seems like it happened only yesterday. Yet, so much has happened since that great day.

Finally, after years of hard toil, Mark had a winning car under him, but did he have a winning team behind him? The first inkling that some in Red Bull considered him an inconvenience, as Mark once described himself, came in the aftermath of his crash with Sebastian Vettel at the 2010 Turkish Grand Prix. The front wing swap controversy followed soon after at Silverstone, leading to Mark’s “Not bad for a number two driver” comment following what must rank as one of his most satisfying wins.

The most decisive point in Mark’s F1 career came during a rainy 2010 Korean Grand Prix, when he crashed out in pursuit of Sebastian Vettel. Mark was leading the world championship at the time and solid result at Yeongam would have helped maintain his charge towards the title.

Sadly for Mark, on the biggest stage, he made a vital mistake and, despite being in the hunt right to the final race, a failure to capture the championship looked inevitable. Having to watch Vettel steal the title during an excruciating Abu Dhabi Grand Prix would have only rubbed salt into Webber’s festering wounds.

The Vettel juggernaut continued in 2011 and a disappointing season was salvaged to a degree with a win at Brazil, before reaching high points in 2012 with repeat victories at Monaco and Britain. More than 500 days have passed since Mark’s last win, which just highlights the gap between he and Sebastian Vettel, who has won 17 grands prix in that time.

One final blow up between Mark and Sebastian occurred earlier this year during the Malaysian Grand Prix, when Vettel defied team orders and overtook Webber on the way to victory. Perhaps that was the final straw Mark needed before signing a long-term deal to go endurance racing with Porsche.

For many fans Mark’s career is one that lies in the “what could have been” category. Mark himself says he has no regrets and is not too proud to admit his shortcomings. His own self-reflection is one of the aspects that makes him so universally liked in F1. Ironically, and tellingly, Mark’s greatest detractor in the sport has come from within his own garage in the form of Helmut Marko.

For now, though, let’s put all those thoughts behind us and revisit the nine perfect Monday mornings Mark delivered to Australian F1 fans. Thanks Mark! We’re looking forward to many more happy Mondays following your move to Porsche.

[Pics: Red Bull/Getty Images]

Categories
Caterham F1 in pictures Ferrari Lotus McLaren Mercedes-Benz Red Bull Racing Toro Rosso

2013 Hungarian Grand Prix in pictures

2013 Hungarian Grand Prix

We’re fairly certain is Lewis Hamilton is still over the moon at his first win for Mercedes-Benz, which he achieved at the 2013 Hungarian Grand Prix. But we’re not so sure he’ll check into AUSmotive to relive his victory. So, it’s just as well you’re here to fill Lewis’ shoes.

Categories
Formula 1 Lotus Mercedes-Benz Red Bull Racing

2013 Hungarian GP: Post-race press conference

2013 Hungarian Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton rated his win in the 2013 Hungarian Grand Prix very highly. When interviewed on the podium by Martin Brundle he declared: “I think this is probably one of the most important grand prix wins of my career. To move to a new team and to win for Mercedes-Benz is just a real privilege.”

Clearly, Lewis was pretty happy with his day’s work, and so he should be. He drove a strong race and deserved the win.

Mark Webber was also pleased with his result, even though, he’d much prefer fighting for higher honours that P4.

“I think we had the right strategy,” Webber said. “We knew there was a lot of pressure on getting a good first lap and I got some clear air, which worked well. The start was okay and the first sector was very good, I was able to put a bit of pressure on Kimi and then we just settled in.

“I don’t think we could have got much more than that result today. The strategy was pretty solid and you have to pace the option tyres until the end.”

Daniel Ricciardo wasn’t quite so pleased with his day and think the mid-30 degree temperatures may not suit the Toro Rosso STR8.

“Right from the start, it was clear we weren’t really quick,” admitted Ricciardo. “I tried to hold position as long as I could but we were way too slow. I tried my best in terms of trying to maintain a good pace and look after the tyres, but today it was not enough to go looking for points. We got a bit more out of the car in qualifying yesterday, but it’s hard to repeat that for seventy laps.

“We struggled at Nürburgring as well, so the heat has got something to do with it. We could not match our competitors today, just lacking speed when we have a heavy fuel load, which is the opposite of what we tended to see with last year’s car.”

The full post-race press conference transcript featuring the first three drivers can be read after the break.

[Pic: Mercedes AMG]