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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]

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Formula 1 Lotus McLaren Red Bull Racing

Lewis Hamilton wins 2013 Hungarian GP

Lewis Hamilton wins 2013 Hungarian Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton said he couldn’t win the Hungarian Grand Prix, despite starting from pole position. But he made a quick start off the line to hold P1 and managed to hang on for a well deserved win—his first for Mercedes AMG.

We were also told that the Hungaroring is notoriously difficult to pass on but we saw some great overtaking moves during this race right through the field.

The closing laps saw a great scrap between Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus) and Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) for the minor podium positions. Kimi was able to hold Sebastian at bay to finish the race in P2.

Making his second great start in a row Mark Webber (Red Bull) started from P10 and improved to P7 by the end of the first lap. He bagn the race on new medium compound tyres, while all those in front were on used softs. Fresh tyres allowed Mark to stay out much longer on his opening stint and he led the race for several laps before making his first of three tyre stops.

With 10 laps to go, while in second place, Webber pitted for the final time taking on a brand new set of soft tyres. He rejoined the track in P4 some 12 seconds behind the Raikkonen–Vettel scrap but was unable to close enough ground to fight for a podium finish. Still, after his qualifying woes he should be happy with fourth.

Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) had a non-descript race and was never really in the hunt, in that context he may be happy with P5 today. However, we’re certain he won’t be happy with Ferrari’s current form.

In P6 was Romain Grosjean (Lotus) who, we think, was a little unlucky to be penalised for a great overtaking move on Jenson Button (McLaren). To complete the move Grosjean had all four wheels off the race track, ever so slightly, and was given a drive through penalty for his sins. He had shown good pace all race and had the package to fight for more.

Daniel Ricciardo (Toro Rosso) was barely sighted on the television feed all race and dropped from his starting position of eighth down to thirteenth. Crucially, he finished one place behind teammate Jean-Eric Vergne.

Formula 1 now heads into its mid-season break and will return for the Belgian Grand Prix in the last weekend of August.

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Formula 1 Lotus Mercedes-Benz Red Bull Racing

2013 Hungarian GP: Qualifying report

2013 Hungarian Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes AMG) collected his third pole position in succession after setting the fastest time in qualifying for the 2013 Hungarian Grand Prix. Hamilton (1:19.388) was genuinely surprised to have edged out Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull, 1:19.426), who had been the benchmark all weekend.

Romain Grosjean (Lotus, 1:19.595) qualified third and in doing so reminded us that, when switched on, he has the talent to mix it with the best in the sport. If he can rid himself of his brain fades he could forge an enviable F1 career. Nico Rosberg (Mercedes AMG, 1:19.720) will start form P4 alongside Grosjean.

Fernando Alonso (Ferrari, 1:19.791) and Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus, 1:19.851) occupy the third row of the grid.

For Australian fans their hopes will be pinned on Daniel Riccardo (Toro Rosso, 1:20.641) who will start from P8, once again making it into Q3 while his teammate, Jean-Eric Vergne, was left behind in Q2 and will line up on P14.

“It was good to get into Q3 again. We seem to make a habit of finding a little bit extra for qualifying,” Ricciardo said after qualifying. “Athough ideally, I’d like to be on the pace right from Friday and chip away at the lap times within the top ten. We made some set-up changes overnight and they seem to have worked, although we had a bit of work to do to get to Q3 today.”

Meanwhile, Mark Webber (Red Bull) did well to get himself into Q3 with a car that had ever present issues, namely a KERS failure and hampered performance from his gearbox. He elected not to go out at all in Q3 and will start from P10 and has the luxury to choose the tyres he wants to start with. Although, that’s not much of a compensation for Mark who was clearly frustrated after hopping out of his car while Q3 was still underway.

“Massively frustrating. We look stupid, it’s embarrassing and it’s a brutal circuit to be out of position on,” Webber said. “We should be challenging for the front row and we’re 10th.”

Expectations for the race are that Mercedes, again, won’t have the pace to challenge for the win, which leaves the likely result another win for Sebastian Vettel. The Hungaoring is notoriously difficult to overtake on and while Webber might have the car able to challenge for a podium it will be a mighty result if he can achieve that.

[Pic: Mercedes AMG]

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Formula 1 News

You’ve got two months left to ‘Rush’

Rush F1 movie

Today marks two months until the world premiere of Ron Howard’s F1 movie Rush. Advance screenings have already taken place, and many in current F1 circles, including Niki Lauda, have seen the film.

It’s understood Lauda led the applause when Howard presented the film to an F1 audience prior to the German Grand Prix.

“I spoke to the drivers, and they were very complimentary, which made me feel great,” Howard told SPEED.com. “Some of the engineering guys are so excited by what we’ve achieved. I don’t know where that comes from—perhaps they’ve been disappointed by other films, or perhaps they assumed it was too complicated for us to ever get it.”

Importantly, Bernie Ecclestone is a fan. Howard recalled a conversation he had with the F1 supremo: “I said to Bernie, ‘Thanks for taking the time to see the movie,’ and he said, ‘Thanks for making it. It really took me back.’ He wasn’t joking, he was kind of emotional, and I think he was surprised.”

As you can probably tell we’re very much looking forward to seeing the film. We appreciate how open Howard has been throughout the making of the movie. He’s given fans an insight all the way though, mostly through his twitter account.

Howard’s media appearances have also been great, bringing us closer to the story and giving F1 fans a stake in its creation. His recent appearance on Top Gear is just one example of that.

To help you count down the days you can check out the official Rush website as well as a selection of previews we have for you after the break.

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Formula 1 Honda McLaren

Sound of Honda: Ayrton Senna 1989

As far as tributes go this one is hard to beat. We can’t tell you a lot about it other than Honda has literally created a sound track to give an audio visual representation of Ayrton Senna driving a McLaren MP4/5 around the famous Suzuka grand prix circuit. Oh, and you’re going to like it, a lot!

[Thanks to Ryan for the tip]

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Formula 1 Red Bull Racing

“Ricciardo did an excellent job at Silverstone”

Daniel Ricciardo testing for Red Bull Racing, July 2013

Daniel Ricciardo’s hopes of landing the plumb Red Bull Racing seat in 2014 are improving by the day it would seem. And it appears we won’t have long to find out if he’s got the gig.

Speaking ahead of this weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix, Dietrich Mateschitz told Autosport, that an announcement isn’t far away. “There is no decision yet, and it is still under discussion within the team. It will be announced after Budapest,” the Red Bull owner said.

“But Ricciardo did an excellent job at Silverstone, and [Jean-Eric] Vergne was very good,” Mateschitz added.

Daniel set the fastest lap of the day during testing at Silverstone last week. That time was set in the morning session when he was driving for Toro Rosso. After switching to the Red Bull Racing garage over his short lunch break he backed up his morning performance with the third quickest time of the day.

Jean-Eric Vergne believes he’s still a chance to land the job at Red Bull, but it would appear as though it’s a straight fight between Ricciardo and Kimi Raikkonen.

With Louts on the brink of securing new investors it’s looking more likely that Kimi could elect to stay with his current team for 2014. And that would be a great boost to Daniel’s chances of replacing fellow Australian Mark Webber at Red Bull Racing.

[Source: Autosport | Pic: Red Bull/Getty Images]

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Formula 1

2014 F1 season to be capped at 20 races

2013 German Grand Prix

Following word the Austrian Grand Prix is expected to return to F1 Bernie Ecclestone has said there will be no more than 20 races in 2014.

The Russian Grand Prix will debut next year and if the New Jersey Grand Prix can get its act together we’re facing the prospect of a 21 race calendar.

“We will have 20 races, not more,” Ecclestone told Austrian paper Kleine Zeitung.

So, something has to give and it’s likely to be New Jersey. Indeed, Niki Lauda, Mercedes AMG F1 team non-executive chairman, has said, “As far as I know, it’s already gone from the calendar.”

It’s understood Red Bull has signed a seven year agreement to host Formula 1 races at its Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria, starting from next year. It turns out there are still some government-related hurdles to clear, relating to noise limits and spectator numbers.

“I don’t know everything else at the moment. Ask me again in the summer,” added Ecclestone. “Red Bull is very good for the sport, very good for Formula One. Everything is so professional at Red Bull, quality-wise at a high level. I think Red Bull will organise a very good grand prix.”

[Source: Planet F1 & crash.net | Pic: Red Bull/Getty Images]

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Formula 1

Pirelli previews 2013 Hungarian GP

Pirelli P Zero F1 tyre

Since the exploding tyre dramas of the British Grand Prix we’ve been told teams had mounted tyres the wrong way around, that the teams are too paranoid and threats of a driver boycott prior to the German Grand Prix.

That culminated in hastily arranged test of newly created tyres (2012 carcass, using 2013 compounds) spliced into the recent young driver testing at Silverstone.

So, in their official video preview (available below) of this weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix you’d reckon Pirelli would mention something about the new tyres. Even if these videos were produced months ago you’d reckon they’d be able to edit the voiceover. Apparently not.

In the pre-race press release, though, we do get some acknowledgement.

“Hungary marks the first event for our latest specification P Zero tyres, which consist of the 2012 construction matched to the 2013 compounds,” confirmed Paul Hembery. “These tyres were tried out by the teams at Silverstone during the young driver test, who benefitted from the opportunity to adapt the set-up of their cars to best suit the new tyres.”

Hembery goes on to discuss some of the features of the Hungaroring circuit. “Now they get to use them in competition for the first time, and with qualifying particularly important at the Hungaroring, the work done in free practice will be very important,” he added. “Overtaking at this circuit is never an easy task, so the teams will be looking to use strategy to maximise their opportunities to gain track position.

“The selection of medium and soft tyres should provide plenty of chances to help them do that, based on the data that all the teams gain with different fuel loads in free practice. Temperatures in Hungary can be very high, and this is the other factor on which the levels of wear and degradation experienced will depend.

“Traction and braking are two critical aspects of tyre performance in Hungary, with the teams running a set-up designed to emphasise these key areas. With levels of lateral energy relatively low, tyre performance rather than durability will be the limiting factor and this will form the basis of the strategy selected—with the teams aiming to keep the tyres within the peak window of operating performance for as long as possible.

“The design of our latest tyres should help them to do this.”

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Ferrari Formula 1

On board with Kamui in Moscow

Kamuo Kobacrashi

Kudos to Ferrari for releasing onboard video footage of Kamui Kobayashi’s recent exploits in Moscow. It’s warts and all and nothing has been edited out.

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Formula 1

Austrian Grand Prix back on F1 calendar in 2014

2013 Canadian Grand Prix

The Austrian Grand Prix is set to return to the F1 program next year at the Red Bull Ring. Under its former name, the A1 Ring last hosted F1 races between 1997–2003.

This is all good news for European F1 fans who’ve become accustomed to losing races to frontier countries. But will it come at the expense of the troubled New Jersey GP?

The New York race was originally scheduled to debut on 16 June this year, but was postponed until 2014 due to construction delays. That was the official word anyway, although financial issues have also hampered the race’s progress.

Clearly the financial might of Red Bull will ensure no such dramas befall the Austrian race which has been penciled in for 6 July next year.

It’s likely to be a packed schedule in the middle of next year. The FIA has confirmed the 24 Hours of Le Mans will be held on the weekend of 14–15 June and has mandated that no F1 race can clash with the event. That leaves the British, Austrian, German and Hungarian Grands Prix to fit in after Le Mans and before the end of July.

Even if the New Jersey GP falls through, when you factor in the debut of the Russian Grand Prix we could still be looking at a 21 race bonanza in 2014.

[Source: James Allan on F1 | Pic: Red Bull/Getty Images]

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Ferrari Formula 1

Kobayashi hopes there’s no barrier to F1 return

Kamui Kobayashi crashes in Moscow

Kamui Kobayashi was the driver chosen to represent the Ferrari at the annual Moscow City Racing event held over the weekend. He was at the wheel of a 2009-spec F60 and in the wet conditions, well, things didn’t quite go to plan.

You can see an unofficial video after the break showing Kamui hitting the barrier. Ferrari’s Corse Clienti crew had a spare car prepared within 20 minutes enabling the Japanese driver to get back out on track and impress the fans.

“The track was very slippery and there was a marked bump at that point, which is why I hit the barrier,” Kobayshi said. “A shame, but I am pleased the team let me out again after a few minutes.”

Despite his bruised ego Kobayashi, who has been racing for Ferrari in the FIA World Endurance Championship, says he still remains hopeful of a return to F1 in 2014. And while you always need to be mindful of physical barriers in motorsport, Kamui says there may be some financial barriers he has to overcome.

“At the moment, there are many teams who prefer to choose their drivers based on how much money they can bring, rather than on their ability on track,” he said. “I hope this trend will change, because my aim is to be back there as soon as possible and I am working hard to succeed.

“Meanwhile, all I can do is give my all to Ferrari in the GT races and be available to the team for whatever they want me to do, such as events like this, or when they ask me to help with the development of the car by working on the simulator.”

We’ve got some official pics and statements to follow Kamui’s unfortunate accident.

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Formula 1 News

CVC responds to Ecclestone’s indictment

Bernie Ecclestone

Formula 1 commercial rights owner, CVC Capital Partners, has issued an official statement in response to news that Bernie Ecclestone has been indicted by a German court over bribery claims.

Formula One Group Press Release

Wednesday 17 July 2013

The Board of Formula One Group* notes the following developments in Munich:

Mr Ecclestone, CEO of Formula One Group has now received a bill of indictment, in English, from the Munich Regional Court.

Mr Ecclestone has 6 weeks to provide a response to this bill of indictment, prior to a decision being made by the Court on opening proceedings.

The Board will continue to monitor developments in this situation accordingly.

* Delta Topco Limited

Clearly, the future of F1’s long-time supremo (does anyone other than Bernie get called a supremo?) hangs on the outcome of this little saga. Ferrari President Luca di Montezemolo is one man you get the feeling would be quite pleased to see the back of Bernie.

Bernie is no stranger to controversy and Andrew Benson from the BBC has taken a look at the life and times of the most powerful man in F1. We think you should read it.

[Pic: Joerg Koch/AP]