Showing posts with label Spanish. Show all posts

Spanish F1 Grand Prix 2012: Race Report - Lewis Hamilton 8th, Jenson Button 10th

By Adji | Published Monday, 14 May 2012

LEWIS HAMILTON
- MP4-27A-03
- Started: 24th
- Finished: 8th
- Fastest lap: 1m28.918s (+2.668s, 18th)
- Pitstops: Two: laps 14 (4.0s) and 35 (3.8s) [Opt-Pri-Pri]
- Points: 53 (3rd)

“I’m proud of my performance today, and proud of the team too. They did a great job: a real improvement with the pitstops, following our difficulties in that area recently. All in all, then, I think today’s result was the best we could do.

“I was the only driver to attempt a two-stop strategy, and I’m glad I was able to made it work. People often say that I have an aggressive driving style, but my final stint on the Prime tyre was 31 laps, so I reckon I proved today that I can make tyres last.

“It was a huge challenge to come through the field from the back, but I never gave up for a single second, right up to the finish line. Before the race I said I’d race my heart out, and that’s exactly what I did. For me, that’s what racing is all about.

“Today was all about damage limitation. But, now, looking at the bigger picture, I can’t really complain because, despite the setbacks I’ve had this season, I’m still only eight points behind the leader of the drivers’ world championship.

“The team has been working extremely hard, and our car is quick. So, when things go right, I think we’ll be in a great position – and it’ll come to us before too long.

“Finally, big congratulations to Pastor [Maldonado] and everyone at Williams – it’s a fantastic result for them and this is a great day for him personally.”

JENSON BUTTON
- MP4-27A-04
- Started: 10th
- Finished: 9th
- Fastest lap: 1m28.624s (+2.374s, 14th)
- Pitstops: Three: laps 9 (4.1s), 25 (4.6s) and 38 (3.8s) [Opt-Pri-Opt-Pri]
- Points: 45 (6th)

“Congratulations to Pastor! His was a great drive and I’m sure it will instil a lot of confidence in him and the Williams team.

“The Formula 1 form-book is very mixed-up at the moment, which is unusual, but that’s the way it appears to be going this season. As for us, well, a lot of my afternoon was spent stuck in traffic, and I had a Sauber breathing down my neck for most of the race. All in all, we weren’t quite quick enough today – but that’s something I need to solve myself. I need to find a set-up that suits me better as I feel like I have pretty poor grip at the moment.

“Having said that, I’m already looking forward to Monaco and a much better weekend there. It’s a circuit I love and hopefully a place where we can achieve a good result.”

MARTIN WHITMARSH
Team principal, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes

“Before I say anything else, I want to offer my very hearty congratulations to Williams, to Pastor and particularly to Sir Frank for a stunning victory here today.

“For Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, following our disappointments yesterday, today was always going to be about recovery. Even so, Jenson will be disappointed: he struggled with balance and grip all afternoon, and won’t be satisfied with the brace of world championship points that his ninth place delivered him.

“Lewis, having started in 24th and last place following his qualifying penalty yesterday, drove an absolutely storming race to eighth place at the chequered flag, all but catching and passing Nico [Rosberg] for seventh place on the final lap. Like Jenson, he won’t be content with the four world championship points he earned this afternoon, but in truth he should be immensely proud of his performance here.

“Lewis was the only driver to make a two-stop strategy work today – and that, given that his race strategy called for him to drive exceptionally hard and extremely fast in heavy traffic all afternoon, pulling off some sensational passing manoeuvres on a circuit on which overtaking is notoriously difficult, was a truly magnificent feat.

“Make no mistake about it, the 2012 Santander Spanish Grand Prix was one of the most impressive races that Lewis has ever driven. His performance combined fabulous verve with commendable caution – and I’d go so far as to say that, rising above the frustration he inevitably felt yesterday evening, he’s inspired each and every one of us at Vodafone McLaren Mercedes with his stirring drive today.

“He’s only eight points behind the leader in the Drivers’ World Championship, and he loves the Monaco Grand Prix, the next stop on the World Championship calendar.

“Jenson, too, is a past winner at Monte-Carlo, and, like Lewis, he’ll approach the dauntingly tortuous streets of the famous Principality with the forceful precision that marks out both our drivers as the superb World Champions that they are.

“They’ll both be aiming to win, of that you may be sure.”

~ Official photos and report courtesy of Vodafone McLaren Mercedes ~

Copyright © 2012, Mercedes-Benz-Blog. All rights reserved.

Posted in 2012, f1, grand prix, race, report, Spanish, sunday, vmm, vodafone mclaren mercedes | Leave a comment

Spanish F1 Grand Prix 2012: Race Report - Nico Rosberg 7th, Michael Schumacher retired

By Adji | Published Sunday, 13 May 2012

Nico Rosberg finished the Spanish Grand Prix in seventh place today with Michael Schumacher retiring on lap 13.

• Nico followed a three-stop tyre strategy, pitting on laps 9, 22 and 40
• Nico´s tyre usage was soft (9 laps), soft (13 laps), hard (18 laps), hard (26 laps)
• Michael retired in turn one at the start of lap 13 following a collision with Bruno Senna´s Williams
• The 2012 season has now seen five winners from five races, something that last occurred in 1983

Nico Rosberg
“That was a difficult day for us and a very strange race. We didn’t manage to find the right tyre management so I lost two positions towards the end of the race on my last stint which was 26 very long laps. The one positive thing is that I was able to defend my position against Lewis and keep seventh place, rather than eighth. Once again today we saw a surprising and well deserved win which is good for Formula One. Congratulations to Pastor and Frank at my old team Williams! Now I’m looking forward to my home race in Monaco in two weeks with some updates on the car.”

Michael Schumacher
“Obviously I am not happy with the outcome of the race as I think we could have achieved some nice points today. But then this is sometimes what you have to go through in racing. It is not easy to see from the TV replays but what happened from my viewpoint was that he went to the right to defend the inside line, and then suddenly, shortly before the braking point, went to the left. When you are so tight together in the braking zone, you have no other choice than to try to react and avoid hitting but it was too late. It is a shame, as I said, but then what I will do now is to look ahead to the next race and try to attack there.”

Bob Bell
“We spent our afternoon racing hard with Red Bull and McLaren - but it was only for places in the bottom half of the top ten today. We didn´t have the basic pace we needed this afternoon, and we were hampered further with an issue on Nico’s car. There was a clear loss of downforce measurable on the data, which made it even more difficult for Nico to look after the tyres properly, but whether this was down to damage or another factor is something we will have to investigate this evening. Naturally, it was a disappointment to lose Michael early in the race, after his pace had looked reasonable in the opening stint. The team did a good job on the stops and I believe we made the right tactical decisions to protect Nico´s position at critical moments of the race, even though he ultimately ran out of grip in the closing laps on a long final stint. The basic fact is that we needed more pace today, which is what we must bring over the coming races. And we will.”

Norbert Haug
“A difficult race for us, and Nico went from fifth to seventh place in the last laps because our car could not use the tyres during such a long stint, so he could not repeat the lap times he had done before. Michael had an accident with a slower car which he attempted to overtake. After five races, there are five different winners from five different teams, and I am told this last happened 30 years ago. Congratulations to the Williams team and to Pastor Maldonado today - well done and great for them to win on such a demanding circuit. After five races and a quarter of the season, Nico is 20 points behind the leader. We have to raise our game in the next races and during the remainder of the season and I am sure that all our team members will work very hard to make the next steps and to achieve a better level of performance than we had today.”

~ Official photos and report courtesy of MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS ~

Copyright © 2012, Mercedes-Benz-Blog. All rights reserved.

Posted in 2012, f1, grand prix, mbamgf1, mercedes amg petronas, race, report, Spanish, sunday | Leave a comment

Spanish F1 Grand Prix 2012: Qualifying Report - Lewis Hamilton 1st*, Jenson Button 11th

By Adji

LEWIS HAMILTON
- MP4-27A-03
- P3 programme: 1m24.778s (+1.610s), 15 laps, 16th
- Qualifying:
- Q1: 1st, 1m22.583s
- Q2: 2nd, 1m22.465s
- Q3: 1st*, 1m21.707s

* Lewis Hamilton originally qualified on pole, but was excluded for failing to return to the pits under his own power and supply a fuel sample. Thus Hamilton starts Sunday's race from 24th after stewards let HRT's Narain Karthikeyan race despite failing to meet the 107% requirement. Moreso, Jenson Button is rellegated to 10th after this team mate's disqualifying.

“This is such a disappointment. Today’s qualifying session was one of the best I’ve ever driven - the whole car was just rolling so smoothly - it felt fantastic. The team had done a fantastic job to bring the updates here this weekend - so I want to say a huge thank-you to all the men and women at the MTC [McLaren Technology Centre] for working day and night to get all the new components here this weekend.

“But, on my slowing-down lap, my engineers told me to stop on the track, and I didn’t know why. Later, to hear that I’d been excluded from qualifying, was of course extremely disappointing.

“But, now, looking ahead to tomorrow, I think it’s clear that it’s going to be an incredibly tough race for us. Even so, as always, I’ll never give up and I’ll give it everything I’ve got. It would mean so much to me to get a good result here in Spain: it’s such a pleasure to come here and the support I get is amazing. As I always say, and as I always do, whatever grid position I start a Grand Prix from, I’ll always race my heart out.”

JENSON BUTTON
- MP4-27A-03
- P3 programme: 1m23.909s (+0.741s), 16 laps, 8th
- Qualifying:
- Q1: 8th, 1m23.510s
- Q2: 11th, 1m22.944s
- Q3: -

“I expected quite a bit from qualifying today, so I don’t really understand what went wrong. The speed is in the car though, as Lewis showed.

“We were quickest on the soft tyre yesterday, and I thought we’d be reasonably competitive today too - but that wasn’t the case, and we don’t really know why. I just struggled with a very different balance from yesterday. I had oversteer all through qualifying, then, on my final run - when we actually added more front wing - I had understeer!

“It’s not a perfect day when you qualify in P11 [P10 after Lewis’s penalty] but I hope we can work out this evening what’s happening with the balance for the race tomorrow. I guess you’d just have to describe today as a difficult day at the office.”

MARTIN WHITMARSH
Team principal, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes

“You won’t be surprised to hear me saying that today was a very disappointing day for all at Vodafone McLaren Mercedes. But, if I may start by stressing the positives, both today and yesterday our car has shown itself to be both fast and stable at this most testing of circuits, and as a result Jenson was extremely quick yesterday and Lewis extremely quick today.

“But, when it came to final qualifying this afternoon, by their own admission Jenson and his engineers didn’t quite manage to find the ‘sweet spot’ in terms of set-up and tyre optimisation, and the result was P11 [P10 after Lewis’s penalty]. Lewis, by contrast, hooked it up beautifully in Q3 today, continuing his run of scintillating quali-laps so far this season.

“However, he was unable to finish his slow-down lap - and, since we accept that the stewards didn’t agree with our interpretation of force majeure, we didn’t contest their decision to penalise him. Our aim is therefore now to maximise the points we can score tomorrow, and you may rest assured that both Jenson and Lewis will approach the 2012 Spanish Grand Prix with their customary combative ambition.”