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2013 Chinese GP: Post-race press conference

2013 Chinese Grand Prix

Here’s the full post-race press conference transcript from the 2013 Chinese Grand Prix, featuring interviews with race winner Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) and minor place getters Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus) and Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes AMG).

Before you get reading there’s some housekeeping from the race to cover. On lap 15 Mark Webber (Red Bull) collided with Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso). Stewards have apportioned blame for the incident to Webber and handed him a three spot grid penalty for the next race.

“I was coming from a reasonable distance behind, Jean-Eric was really wide,” explained Webber. “But when we came close to the apex he wanted to hit it, which he is entitled to do, but by then I was committed to the inside and the incident happened.

“It was a couple of laps before our pit stop window, so I had to come in early. The guys thought the tyre was fixed when we left the stop, but it came off on the out lap. We have had a few problems this weekend; I think we could have done something from our start position today, but it wasn’t meant to be.”

In happier news Daniel Ricciardo (Toro Rosso) reckons his seventh placing was well deserved. “The points are very welcome but the really good thing to take away from this is that I think we got to where we were with genuine pace,” he said. “I’ll have to look at a replay and see everything else that happened but I don’t think we benefited from getting lucky with strategy, I think the pace was there for us to finish seventh entirely on merit. And that’s a very nice feeling to take with me to Bahrain.”

[Pic: Ferrari]

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Fernando Alonso wins 2013 Chinese GP

2013 Chinese Grand Prix

Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) has made up for his first lap exit in Malaysia by collecting maximum points for the win at the Chinese Grand Prix.

Tyre strategy once again ruled the day and it was an odd race really. Nothing happened and everything happened. Drivers were asking their teams if they should be racing the car behind or letting it through, all due to tyre wear and their own individual strategies.

In the end the only real excitement was in the last few laps when Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull), running a brand new set of soft compound tyres, was taking seconds per lap out of Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes AMG) in the chase for the final podium step. Hamilton was able to hang on for third, but only by a couple of tenths from the charging Vettel.

Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus) was second and but for a mishap early in the race which left him with some minor damage to the front of his car he may have been able to put more pressure on Alonso who enjoyed victory with a margin of 10.1 seconds.

Mark Webber’s (Red Bull) horror weekend continued with his left rear wheel falling off as he was coasting back to pit lane with problems. This, after already being forced to start from pit lane due to his fuelling dramas from qualifying.

On the positive side for Australian F1 fans Daniel Ricciardo (Toro Rosso) took the six championship points on offer for seventh place. That’s a career best result for Daniel and we hope his improved form continues.

The stewards will be investigating a host of drivers after the race for using DRS in yellow flag conditions. Should that alter the race results we’ll be sure to let you know.

The F1 circus backs up next weekend in Bahrain. We’ll be away interstate at Targa Tasmania but will endeavour to cover proceedings as best we can.

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Ferrari Formula 1 Lotus Mercedes-Benz

2013 Chinese GP: Qualifying report

2013 Chinese Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton claimed his maiden pole position for Mercedes AMG in qualifying at the Chinese Grand Prix earlier today. His time of 1:34.484 gave him a relatively comfortable margin of almost three tenths back to Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus, 1:34.761) and Fernando Alonso (Ferrari, 1:34.788).

The Mercedes duo have shown good pace all weekend and Nico Rosberg (1:34.861) may be a little disappointed to be starting on the second row.

Tyre strategy once again influenced the final qualifying session more than the FIA would probably like with no flying laps set until the closing minutes of the session and two drivers, Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) and Nico Hulkenberg (Sauber) failing to set a time at all.

You can add Jenson Button (McLaren, 2:05.673) to that list too. The only reason he completed his slow lap was to ensure he started ahead of Vettel. Both Vettel and Button will start the race on the longer wearing harder compound tyres (mediums), while all those ahead will be on the softs. Will Vettel’s sacrifice and lowly P9 grid position pay dividends?

It was a bit of a shambles for Red Bull today actually. Mark Webber managed just one flying lap in Q2 before being asked by the team to park his car due low fuel. He spent much of Q2 in the top 10, but as the track conditions improved those around him went faster and eventually bumped him down to P14. Worse was to come, though, and Mark will start the race from last place after being penalised as his car contained just 150ml of fuel, well below the one litre required for its mandatory sample.

In better news for Australian fans Daniel Ricciardo (Toro Rosso) made it into the top 10 and will start the race from P7. His teammate, Jean-Eric Vergne, could only manage a time good enough for P16.

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Raikkonen to Red Bull Racing in 2014?

2013 Australian Grand Prix

If, or should that be when, there is a spare seat available at Red Bull Racing for the 2014 season it has emerged that team owner Dietrich Mateschitz would consider offering a contract to current Lotus driver Kimi Raikkonen.

Discussing the possible options if a new driver is required Mateschitz said: “Kimi is cool and fast and always a candidate.”

However, the billionaire is also a fan of Mark Webber’s and says the decision to retire from F1 will be up to the Australian. “Whether he retires, only he will choose. Mark is definitely a candidate for 2014,” he added.

“He is always welcome with us. So too would be a quick junior like (Jean-Eric) Vergne or (Daniel) Ricciardo from the Toro Rosso team.

“Sorry, I know it’s a diplomatic answer which leaves everything open, but that’s how it is. Everything else is pure speculation.”

Perhaps most telling is the re-emergence of the Webber to Porsche in 2014 rumour, which has now been mentioned by Germany’s Auto Bild newspaper. They claim Mark has “already been in contact” with Porsche management about the possibility of future in sportscar racing.

[Source: Speed TV | Pic: Lotus F1 Team/LAT Photographic]

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2013 Malaysian Grand Prix in pictures

2013 Malaysian Grand Prix

So, the Malaysian Grand Prix, you may have heard about it. It’s a perfect snapshot of how the mainstream media in Australia handles Mark Webber.

Last week the local media tore shreds from Mark after his woeful start, which, funnily enough, ended up not being entirely his fault. Now, the media is lauding him as some sort of saint-in-waiting who has been dealt an unimaginable injustice by that devil in disguise named Sebastian Vettel.

It’s also an excellent example of how quickly the media world can force things to spiral things out of control; we’ll go into a bit that later.

Anyway, enough banter, here’s the pics from Sepang. We hope you like them.

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Lotus

Keep calm and Lotus on

Lotus Esprit

Following last night’s late report that Group Lotus PLC could face a winding up order the niche manufacturer has issued this unambiguous official statement:

Group Lotus PLC is not being liquidated

Monday, March 18, 2013 – 15:45

Contrary to rumours initiated by Autocar magazine, Lotus is not being liquidated.

Earlier this year, Lotus was in a contractual dispute which was resolved amicably a number of weeks ago. However the High Court process meant that the matter was still shown on the High Court website, as there was a hearing scheduled for today. This is what appears to have been seen and misunderstood.

The case was only listed for the proceedings to be disposed of.

The claim has now been dismissed with no order as to costs.

So, egg on the faces of a few at the usually very reliable Autocar then?

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Lotus

Reports of my death have been greatly…

Lotus Esprit

Autocar brings grim word that:

“An announcement from the HM Courts & Tribunals Service has revealed that an application has been made to wind up Group Lotus PLC.

This process could see Group Lotus, which consists of Lotus Cars, Lotus Motorsport and Lotus Engineering, liquidated.”

Kimi Raikkonen, his fans and the rest of Lotus F1 Team can rest easy though, because any such measures, should they take effect, would not affect the F1 outfit which uses the Lotus name and logo under licence.

However, Group Lotus PLC has issued this brief rebuttal via twitter:

[Source: Autocar]

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2013 Australian Grand Prix in pictures

2013 Australian Grand Prix

Aww, isn’t that cute, Kimi and his Australian Grand Prix trophy sharing a quiet moment together in front of their adoring fans.

And with that image another pictorial journey in Formula 1 begins. It’s AUSmotive’s third year of compiling F1 pics after each race to share with our readers and so perhaps now is as good a time as any to share a little about how it all works.

The images are all sourced directly from each team, via their media portals. While we wish we had the budget, time and ability to either commission photographers to act on our behalf or attend every race ourselves that’s simply not the case. It’s all done from AUSmotive HQ in Canberra.

As to the image selection, generally, we select six images from each team, three for each driver. So with 11 teams competing in 2013, at a minimum, you’ll see 66 pics in each gallery. Actually, make that 60 images, because Marussia still won’t answer our emails.

In addition to the base selection of images we give the winning driver and his team extra attention with anywhere from 12 to 30-plus photos. That often depends on the team. Pics from Red Bull normally feature heavily, in part due to having an Australian driver on its books, but also because they provide the best gallery each race and make it the easiest to access them. Ferrari is probably next best. But Mercedes, and sometimes McLaren and Lotus, don’t always give us a lot to work with, which some may argue is fair enough.

Ideally, we like to get photos from raceday, and where there’s a good behind the scenes shot we’ll include them too, no matter the team. Getting back to Mercedes, as this article goes live they only had a handful of images from Sunday in Melbourne, although none of them were on-track photos, so all the F1 W04 images you see are from the practice days. Unfortunately, this is typical for Mercedes/Daimler.

So there you go, we hope that helps you understand a bit more what we’re doing with these galleries and if you have any ideas on the type of images you’d like to see, or any other ideas, please let us know. You can think about it while you’re taking in the 105 images waiting for you after the break.

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2013 Australian GP: Post-race press conference

2013 Australian Grand Prix

That’s quite an amazing podium there, a total of six world championships are shared between Fernando Alonso, Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel. Not only that, to have Lotus win the first race of the year helps set the tone that this may not be the usual Red Bull–Ferrari two-horse race we’ve been accustomed to seeing of late.

Before we get into the transcript from the drivers on the podium here’s a few words from Mark Webber (P6) and Daniel Ricciardo (DNF) on their somewhat disappointing results from today’s race.

Mark Webber (Red Bull Racing): “We had a few issues on the grid, getting the telemetry from the car to the pits, which wasn’t ideal in terms of the guys knowing where to set everything up for the start. We lost KERS also for the first part of the race. It looked like we were quite heavy on the first set of tyres and we weren’t that quick to challenge for the win as a team today. We had a slow pit stop (which was due to a front jack failure), which put me behind Jenson. We salvaged something in the end, but that was Melbourne today and it was disappointing not to get more out of it. It was hard to fight against others on a two-stop.”

Daniel Ricciardo (Toro Rosso): “In the end I had to retire with a problem linked to the exhaust. I reported back to the pit wall that I could hear strange noises and I tried to fix it by changing a few functions, but it was not to be. At the start of the race, I struggled to find grip and it felt like I was driving on ice, as it took a very long time to warm up the tyres. But afterwards, after about ten laps, I got up to speed and my lap times were not too bad, but by then I had lost too much time in the early stages. I think we have more homework to do when it comes to the tyres. Not the ending I wanted for the first Grand Prix of the season, especially here in my home race.”

[Pic: Ferrari]

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Kimi Raikkonen wins 2013 Australian GP

Kimi Raikkonen wins 2013 Australian Grand Prix

Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus) has driven a well calculated race to claim the 2013 Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne this afternoon. For the Albert Park circuit it was an unusually trouble-free race with no Safety Car periods, this allowed Raikkonen to maximise his two-stop strategy, which was one stop fewer than his closest rivals.

Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) turned his P5 starting position into a second place, finishing 12.4 seconds behind Kimi. Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) finds himself on the bottom podium step, not what he would have planned after claiming pole position this morning.

Mark Webber (Red Bull) made a poor start from P2 and could only manage a sixth place result, behind Felipe Massa (Ferrari) and Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes). Webber revealed after the race he lost KERS and there were telemetry issues, before conceding he didn’t have the pace to fight for the win in any case.

Adrian Sutil’s (Force India) return to Grand Prix racing delivered some time in the spotlight, twice he lead the race, before slipping down to P7 due to fading supersoft tyres. Close behind was Sutil’s teammate Paul di Resta. Rounding out the top 10 were Romain Grosjean (Lotus) and Jenson Button (McLaren).

Daniel Ricciardo (Toro Rosso) retired from the race on lap 39 with a suspected broken exhaust. The only positive for him being that teammate Jean-Eric Vergne finished out of the points in P12.

After the wet weather we had yesterday and this morning the race was dry for the most part with only a few light drops falling at various stages. Prior to the race the general consensus was the Red Bulls would be the cars to beat if the conditions were dry, yet the results told a different story and show that we are facing a very open start to the 2013 season.

It’s Raikkonen’s second Australian Grand Prix win, joining his 2007 success. For Lotus, it’s the first time since 1978 (in a former life) they have won the opening race of the year. In 2007 Kimi won the drivers’ championship and in 1978 Lotus won the constructors’ title; a new omen for both perhaps?

Formula 1 backs up at Sepang next weekend for the Malaysian Grand Prix.

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Quick reference guide to the 2013 F1 season

Mark Webber, Red Bull Racing RB9

There’s just one more sleep until the 2013 Formula 1 season kicks off in earnest, so put up your hand if you’re a bit excited!

To help prepare you for what is sure to be another fascinating year in F1 we bring you this quick reference guide. We have the full entry list and numbers for all the drivers, plus links to our launch articles for all 11 teams. Very useful will be the coloured boxes which indicate which drivers will have a red grey camera atop their car and who will have yellow.

We’ve also included an introductory video from Pirelli explaining some of the changes they have made to their tyres for the season ahead. You can also download the full 2013 Pirelli Media Guide to really sink your teeth into the art of the black rubber.

And, finally, there’s a handy calendar with the start times for all 19 races converted to Australian Eastern time.

For easy reference be sure to save this link: ausm.tv/f1guide2013

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Ferrari Formula 1 Lotus McLaren Mercedes-Benz Red Bull Racing

A quick recap of F1 pre-season testing

Nico Rosberg, Mercedes-AMG F1 W04

It’s well known that lap times achieved in Formula 1 pre-season testing can only be relied on as a loose guide to genuine pace, but it’s still interesting to look back and see who did what.

For example, defending champions Red Bull Racing only managed to see one of its drivers top the time sheets once and that was on a day affected by inclement weather so is perhaps an even more unreliable sample. Ferrari managed to top the charts twice, once each for Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa. While Lotus, Mercedes AMG and McLaren shared the spoils, each topping the charts on three occasions.

The table below gives you an easy reference to the fastest times seen during the off-season. Times marked with an asterisk indicate a day that was affected by wet weather. The fastest times achieved on those days may have been set on dry tyres, but in general conditions were not ideal.

2013 Formula 1 pre-season testing lap times

LocationDriverTeamLap time
Jerez (Day 1)Jenson ButtonMcLaren1:18.861
Jerez (Day 2)Romain GrosjeanLotus1:18.218
Jerez (Day 3)Felipe MassaFerrari1:17.879
Jerez (Day 4)Kimi RaikkonenLotus1:18.148
Barcelona I (Day 1)Nico RosbergMercedes AMG1:22.616
Barcelona I (Day 2)Sergio PerezMcLaren1:21.848
Barcelona I (Day 3)Fernando AlonsoFerrari1:21.875
Barcelona I (Day 4)Lewis HamiltonMcLaren1:23.282*
Barcelona II (Day 1)Mark WebberRed Bull1:22.693*
Barcelona II (Day 2)Romain GrosjeanLotus1:22.716*
Barcelona II (Day 3)Lewis HamiltonMercedes AMG1:20.558
Barcelona II (Day 4)Nico RosbergMercedes AMG1:20.130