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ROSBERG WINS ALONSO ACCIDENT QUALIFYING FLOP DRIVER HELMETS MAX VS CARLOS HAAS DEBUT & MORE
2016 AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX EDITION
PERFECT START FOR ROSBERG
IT’S GAME ON! The 2016 Formula 1 World Championship season kicked off in Australia and with it came an all new team, a revamped team, new drivers and of course the inevitable new controversies. As the dust has now settled and we look back on the Melbourne weekend, what emerges as the ‘hot topic” is not that we appear to have a Mercedes versus Ferrari battle on our hands, or the outstanding debut of the Haas F1 Team, or the return of the glorious yellow of Renault - among the myriad of cool things that weekend one conjured - instead we are all lamenting the bizarre farce that was qualifying. Worse is that the inexcusable flop will carry on to at least Bahrain as the powers that be try to save face, despite huge criticism of the new format from everywhere and especially the fans. We are not going to allow this to spoil our re-born GPI Illustrated edition which we will produce once again after a couple of years hiatus. We have everything worth quoting from Nico, Lewis and Seb after their exploits Down Under and also highlight some of the big talking points that emerged during the course of the opening weekend. We remain committed to producing an edition of GPI International within the week after each grand prix, with a couple of special editions thrown into the mix. So welcome back to our readers. It’s game on!
EDITOR • PAUL VELASCO
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2016 AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX EDITION
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THE CLASS
2016 AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX EDITION
S OF 2016
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FORMULA 1 NEWS ALL THE TIM
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AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX POST RACE INTERVIEW
ROSBERG: A PERFECT START E
arly days, but a perfect start. We have to keep an eye on the red guys, because they are very close, as you saw, so we need to give it everything to stay ahead, for sure. It’s been a great weekend. Thank you to the team, they have done an unbelievable job, giving us this incredible car. The car’s been unreal. To beat the Ferraris was great. We absolutely loved it and I’m super excited Everything starts from zero, it’s a new season, new car. I feel that everything is starting from scratch, I’m just happy to get a good start in such a way into the season and that’s it - Nico Rosberg.
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WINNER NICO ROSBERG
The strategy was crucial. So I’m really thankful. The team did a great job on that side as amongst other things. I don’t want to single out one thing, we’re strong in nearly all are was the tyre choice also on the red flag. I was glad to see that they were on the super be the case. I was happy that I was able to follow quite well with the medium. I was a the medium, that that tyre would be too cold but it worked out OK. It was fine. Yeah, re right thing for sure to clear out the incident.
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well. We are really strong in strategy eas but that did it. So I’m thankful. It rsoft. I wasn’t sure that was going to bit concerned about the restart with ed flag. Definitely necessary and the
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WINNER NICO ROSBERG
The start was OK but I was on the dirty side of the grid so it was to be expected that the guys on the left were going to get away a bit better. It was very close with Sebastian. I tried to just go for it in turn one but Sebastian did a great job, he braked on the limit and so there was just no way to get into there on the inside so I had to back out. It was fine but disappointing obviously to lose another position to Kimi as well after the start.
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WINNER NICO ROSBERG The radio clampdown was good, it was a good challenge because now it’s more down to us on track so that was cool. You also feel more in control and it was more of a challenge like that. They did make another change just before the race so we did get more information on strategy, just need to review whether that’s the way to go forward now or if there’s an even better way to do it. Let’s see.
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WINNER NICO ROSBERG
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WINNER NICO ROSBERG
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AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX POST RACE INTERVIEW
HAMILTON A GREAT RESULT FOR THE TEAM H
onestly it was a great race. I loved the fact that we had to come through from far behind. The team did a fantastic job as always. But yeah, it was very tricky out there. Obviously, I’m glad that no one was injured in the shunt. Afterwards it was just trying to get through the traffic, with these tyres on, particularly with the guys at the front who had a faster tyre, it’s impossible to follow around here, as you can see for all of us. No, but I’m really happy to get the result, it’s a great result for the team - Lewis Hamilton.
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SECOND PLACE LEWIS HAMILTON
Generally for me a great race. I think it was really exciting. Obviously it’s always great w with all the work we did in the past days, but it doesn’t always go your way. Having to fi to follow as we all know from the history here – but ultimately the team… just really prou us to be on the front, finish on the front.
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when you get away in the lead, especially fight back from behind, it’s very, very hard ud of what the team have done to enable
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SECOND PLACE LEWIS HAMILTON
My start was quite eventful but fortunately I didn’t get any damage but obviously lost a Nico and Nico was forced wide or something maybe and I was on the outside of him so by quite a few people and after that did something to try and fight my way back which
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a lot of ground. Getting off I just fell to maybe third or fourth. I was on the outside of o a little bit on the astroturf and the grass so I lost a little bit of ground. Got overtaken was hard work but I enjoyed it.
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SECOND PLACE LEWIS HAMILTON
Ferrari are obviously there and in the battle as you’ve seen, so hopefully some exciting races coming up ahead of us. I did the best I could with a difficult start and, yeah, just grateful I got back. Damage limitation really because obviously Nico could have had a lot more points than me.
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AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX POST RACE INTERVIEW
VETTEL: WE WERE A LOT CLOSER W
e were a lot closer. Last year this was one of our worst tracks so there’s plenty of positives. Surely we expected to be a bit stronger in qualifying, it wasn’t the case but I think we had a bit of a rough qualifying session. So I think the race was a lot better for us, we were a lot closer. Surely the red flag didn’t help. Equally we benefitted at the start. The guys did a great job so, I think yeah, it was obviously a pleasant surprise, or a pleasant event, seeing that the start was great and I was overtaking both. It was a bit tight with Nico into Turn One but in the end we made it and even had both cars running at the front, so couldn’t ask for me really.
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THIRD PLACE SEBASTIAN VETTEL
You can argue the red flag didn’t help us but equally, y’know, one time it plays into your favour, the other time it catches you out a bit. I think, nevertheless, we had a great race. We went for the aggressive route – maybe with hindsight we could have done something else but I’m not willing to blame anything or anyone. We are a team, we win as a team and I think we won 15 points. It’s a shame to see that the second car didn’t make it but I think there’s plenty of positives, as I said. The team seems in good shape. We know that we can up our game and we want to put pressure on these guys.
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THIRD PLACE SEBASTIAN VETTEL
The start was mega, I was very happy. It reminded me of Hungary last year, where I pa you know it’s much better when you’re in front, you can control the race and the pace. be in Melbourne, great to be in Australia.
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assed both of them also down to Turn One. Then I think we settled into a rhythm nicely, . As I said tried everything, hopefully it works next time when I’m here. But it’s great to
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THIRD PLACE
I think as a team obviously we try to score as many points as possible. I think you cou wasn’t much between Kimi and myself. I think we were very close this weekend and ide same place on the track. I have no problems with Kimi, I get along well with him and eq I want to do well other than myself obviously is Kimi, so it’s a shame that he didn’t see don’t know what is the problem. In the past we had a radio so it was nice to hear wha informed that he had to retire. I don’t know why.
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uld see in the first stint that there eally we would have fought for the qually, in general the first guy that e the chequered flag. Until now, I at was the problem but I was only
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ROUND 1, AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX ALBERT, PARK MELBOURNE 20 MARCH 2016
ROSBERG STRIKES FIR 1 NICO ROSBERG
MERCEDES
2 LEWIS HAMILTON
MERCEDES
3 SEBASTIAN VETTEL
FERRARI
4 DANIEL RICCIARDO
RED BULL
5 FELIPE MASSA
WILLIAMS
6 ROMAIN GROSJEAN
HAAS
7 NICO HULKENBERG
FORCE INDIA
8 VALTTERI BOTTAS
WILLIAMS
9 CARLOS SAINZ
TORO ROSSO
10 MAX VERSTAPPEN
TORO ROSSO
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RACE REPORT
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ercedes bounced back from a poor race start to open its 2016 Formula One championship account with a one-two finish with Nico Rosberg victorious ahead of team-mate Lewis Hamilton. Sebastian Vettel, who led for a long spell after the start was third for Ferrari. After an aborted start caused by Daniil Kvyat’s Red Bull Racing car failing on the grid as the cars lined up, both Mercedes drivers made a poor getaway. The slow starts from pole position man Hamilton and front-row starter Rosberg, allowed third-on-thegrid Vettel to power through between the Mercedes men to steal the lead.
2016 AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX EDITION
The duo were also passed by the second Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen and as Hamilton struggled to get back into contention he was also passed by Rosberg, Toro Rosso’s Max Verstappen and Williams’ Felipe Massa. Behind Hamilton, Carlos Sainz was seventh in the second Toro Rosso ahead of Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo. Sainz kickstarted the first round of pitstops, with the top 10 qualified gradually making their way towards pit lane to shed their used supersoft tyres. That moved Ricciardo up to P7 and with clear air ahead he soon closed on Massa and passed the Brazilian for P6 on lap 10.
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RACE REPORT
Hamilton, meanwhile, was struggling. He found himself stuck behind Verstappen and was soon on the radio telling his team to consider a strategic adjustment as he could find no way past the Dutchman. Ahead, the leaders were pitting. Rosberg dived for the pits on lap 13 and took on soft tyre. Vettel followed soon after but stuck with the supersoft rubber. He emerged
from his stop just in front o fight off a determined assau hold the lead. The complexion of the drastically, however. On l pressuring Esteban Gutierrez to overtake the Mexican on
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of Rosberg but managed to Mexican’s trajectory shifted slightly and he appeared ult from his fellow German to to dramatically lose speed, causing the hard-charging Alonso to smash into the rear left of the Haas. race was about to change Alonso was bounced into the wall at the side of the lap 17, Fernando Alonso, track, after digging into the grass his car flipped, became z in the battle for P12, looked airborne, flying through the gravel trap and beaching the run towards Turn 3. The coming to rest upside down against the barriers.
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It was a massive accident, but within seconds Alonso was crawling out from the beneath the record, apparently unharmed. He then waved to the crowd as he and Gutierrez climbed into the medical car. With debris scattered across the track the race was red flagged and the drivers made their way back to the
pit lane. A flurry of activity strategies and plotted the ne with a vastly modified script When the race resumed the safety car, both Merce seventh, were on medium t
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ensued as teams reviewed ext phase of the grand prix, to deal with. d on lap 20, after lap behind edes cars, in second and tyres, while the Ferrari duo,
in first and third were on supersofts. Ricciardo who had risen to fourth was also on supersofts, ahead of Verstappen and Sainz. Behind seventh-placed Hamilton and Felipe Massa, Haas’ Romain Grosjean was the biggest beneficiary of the red flag, the Frenchman gaining a free stop and climbing to ninth.
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There was little time to see if third-placed Raikkonen could once again challenge for second, however. On lap 22 the Finn arrowed towardsa the pit lane telling his team “I broke something�. He parked in front of the team’s pit and with smoke billowing from the back of the car and flames spouting from the air box, his race was run. The race was now a question of whether Vettel could pull out a big enough gap over the medium-shod Mercedes to hold his lead or use better pace in the closing stages to catch them, as their medium tyres indicated they would race to the flag,
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whereas Vettel needed another stop. Try as he might Vettel could not shake off Rosberg and when the Ferrari man made his final pit stop on lap 35 he dropped to third. Hamilton meanwhile had battled back to second and though Vettel pressed the champion hard in the final stages, getting to within a second as Hamilton’s tyres went off and he slid wide, the German’s challenge for P2 ended when he made a mistake himself, sliding wide late on the penultimate lap. He was forced to settle for P3.
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RACE REPORT Rosberg, then, crossed the line to take his 15th career win and his Australian Grand Prix victory. With Hamilton second ahead of Vettel, fourth place went to Ricciardo, an excellent finish from eighth on the grid and a hiugely popular result with his home crowd. Massa was fifth for Williams, while Grosjean scored a remarkable sixth place for the US-based Haas team on its F1 debut. Nico Hulkenberg was seventh for Force India ahead of Valterri Bottas, while the final points places went to the Toro Rosso pairing of ninthplaced Carlos Sainz and Max Verstappen in P10. The duo provided a huge amount of entertainment as they conducted their own private battle for position throughout the race. Sainz succeeded in frustrating his team-mate at every turn to the extent that Verstappen’s temperature eventually boiled over and he launched a wild move late in the race which resulted in the pair colliding and Verstappen spinning. They continued on, however, to earn the team its first points of the season.
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RACE REPORT
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ROUND 1, 2016 FORMULA 1 WORLD C AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX, MELBOUR 20 MARCH 2016 RACE RESULT 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 NC NC NC NC NC NC
Driver Nico Rosberg Lewis Hamilton Sebastian Vettel Daniel Ricciardo Felipe Massa Romain Grosjean Nico Hulkenberg Valtteri Bottas Carlos Sainz Max Verstappen Jolyon Palmer Kevin Magnussen Sergio Perez Jenson Button Felipe Nasr Pascal Wehrlein Marcus Ericsson Kimi Räikkönen Rio Haryanto Esteban Gutierrez Fernando Alonso Daniil Kvyat
Team Mercedes Mercedes Ferrari Red Bull Racing Williams Haas Force India Williams Toro Rosso Toro Rosso Renault Renault Force India McLaren Sauber Manor Sauber Ferrari Manor Haas McLaren Red Bull Racing
Fastest lap – Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull, 1:28.997 on lap 49
Time 1:48:15.565 +8.060s +9.643s +24.330s +58.979s +72.081s +74.199s +75.153s +75.680s +76.833s +83.399s +85.606s +91.699s +1 Lap +1 Lap +1 Lap DNF DNF DNF DNF DNF DNS
CHAMPIONSHIP RNE POINTS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22
Driver Nico Rosberg Lewis Hamilton Sebastian Vettel Daniel Ricciardo Felipe Massa Romain Grosjean Nico Hulkenberg Valtteri Bottas Carlos Sainz Jnr Max Verstappen Jolyon Palmer Kevin Magnussen Sergio Perez Jenson Button Felipe Nasr Pascal Wehrlein Marcus Ericsson Kimi RäikkÜnen Rio Haryanto Esteban Gutierrez Fernando Alonso Daniil Kvyat
Points 25 18 15 12 10 8 6 4 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
11 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
Constructor Mercedes Ferrari Williams Mercedes Red Bull TAG Heuer Haas Ferrari Force India Mercedes Toro Rosso Ferrari Renault McLaren Honda Sauber Ferrari Manor Mercedes
Points 43 15 14 12 8 6 3 0 0 0 0
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AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX LAP CHART
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I KNEW MY M BE WATCHING
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MUM WOULD G ON TV GPI
TALKING POINT ALONSO ACCIDENT
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ernando Alonso was wearing a bandage on his knee and a grimace on Monday when he bumped into Blick correspondent Roger Benoit at a Melbourne beach. “I slept badly and have sore ribs,” said the Spaniard, who had flipped and rolled his McLaren-Honda a day earlier after running into Esteban Gutierrez at 300kph. The entire sporting world and beyond was relieved to see Alonso otherwise unscathed, and pondering what next step F1 needs to make to improve safety. For instance, as the smashed remains of the car had landed upside-down, Alonso was able to quickly climb out of the open cockpit “as I knew my Mum would be watching on TV”. But if his car had the FIA-supported ‘halo’ device fitted, as the entire field might in 2017, would Alonso have been able to get out quite so quickly?
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TALKING POINT ALONSO ACCIDENT
“It’s an interesting question that we will have to consider,” Alonso admitted, according to Auto Motor und Sport. Nevertheless he acknowledged, “It was a scary moment and I’m happy that I can stand here. I am very grateful and would like to express my gratitude to the FIA for the safety standards. It’s the only reason I’m still alive.” “I feel fine physically but everything hurts a little
because you move around The knee is what bothers m column but I feel very lucky world champion. But Alonso’s teammate happened on Sunday, and th prevented such a quick esc against the concept.
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so much at those speeds. “People talk about fire, but how many fires because me most as it hit the steering of accidents have we seen in recent years?” the Briton is y,” added the two times F1 quoted by Speed Week. “Ok, in an accident like Fernando’s it would have e Jenson Button says what taken a little longer for him to get out, but the most he fact that ‘halo’ might have important thing is that Alonso is ok and the much greater cape, is in fact no argument risk is a driver being hit on the head. All other discussions are pretty irrelevant,” Button added.
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MERCEDES CO THE WHOLE FI T
he big question after Melbourne is whether Ferrari can really challenge, and put an end to, Mercedes’ dominance of Formula 1 in 2016. Sebastian Vettel looked set to win the season opener last Sunday until the red flag and a tyre choice blunder, but not everyone is convinced. “Mercedes can hide their superiority,” Helmut Marko, the outspoken Red Bull official, told Auto Bild. “If they want, they could lap the entire field.”
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OULD LAP FIELD
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TALKING POINT ALONSO ACCIDENT
Indeed, many believe that the true gap between Mercedes and Ferrari was demonstrated in qualifying. “I think it’s more or less what we expected,” Kimi Raikkonen, referring to Ferrari’s closeness to Mercedes in the race, is quoted by El Confidencial. “On Saturday people went crazy because the difference in qualifying was very large, but there were special circumstances. In the race, it was more or less what we expected,” he added. McLaren-Honda’s Jenson Button agrees: “Ferrari are definitely closer, which is good. It’s great for the sport and we need that.” Ferrari’s 2016 car is the first project that has been implemented from start to finish by its highlyrespected technical boss James Allison, who this week is grappling with some tragic news. La Gazzetta dello Sport reports that the Briton’s wife Rebecca, with whom they have three children, has died suddenly of meningitis. “We at Ferrari are united with him and his family during this period of profound sorrow,” the Maranello team confirmed.
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GAME ON
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traight after the Australian Grand Prix, big smiling, Lewis Hamilton declared “Game on!” as he finished second behind teammate Nico Rosberg at the 2016 season opener.. The Briton was notably – and oddly – upbeat in the face of defeat to his Mercedes teammate, but Hamilton insisted he has had much worse starts to title campaigns. “The longer the season, the less important the first race is,” Hamilton is quoted by Bild newspaper at the start of the unprecedentedly-long 21-race calendar. But Hamilton and Rosberg may also have listened to their boss Toto Wolff, who warned late last year that if the severest of the heat did not go out of their off-track battle, Mercedes may need to consider a new lineup. Rosberg even apologised for touching Hamilton in the first corner, but Wolff also promised to ease the restrictions on the pair, telling Welt am Sonntag newspaper: “We will not intervene between them, or at least we will try not to. “This may actually be helped by the reduced radio communications, which gives greater scope for the drivers to make autonomous decisions,” he added.
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TALKING POINT ALONSO ACCIDENT
Hamilton’s post-Melbourne mood may also be explained by the fact that, following his late-2015 performance dip, he actually set the pace all weekend. “Rosberg, although he won, will realise that he has to find another couple of tenths,” agrees former F1 driver Robert Doornbos.
“I also expect a lot from Bahrain with the higher tem Sport Totaal. Indeed, many believe Se win on Sunday because of t blunder by Ferrari regarding
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m Ferrari next weekend in “I was surprised and glad when I saw Sebastian mperatures,” he told Ziggo was on the red (super soft) tyres,” said Rosberg, “and I thought ‘This is my chance’.” ebastian Vettel only failed to Corriere dello Sport surmised: “The wind has turned the red flag, and a strategy and Ferrari has made a significant step forward. But the g tyre compound choice. gap to Mercedes is still far from overcome.”
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OUR F1 DEBUT POSITIVELY IN
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TALKING POINT HAAS F1 DEBUT
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aas F1 Team now has its first grand prix under its belt, team boss Guenther Steiner spoke about their excellent debut and the immediate future.
Your debut was highlighted by Grosjean’s sixthplace result, but how did it go overall and what can you take from Australia and apply to Bahrain? “We had our ups and downs. It started out with not being able to get enough testing in on Friday during practice. We tried to make up for it on Saturday morning during third practice, but we had an incident with a car colliding with Romain (Grosjean) as he was exiting the garage. It started off not too pretty, and then qualifying was not what we wished for, but the team bounced back and we got ready for Sunday. We showed a good race speed and we are ready to go racing. In the end it was all positive. It was hard to get to the positive, but with a lot of work with a lot of hard-working people, we got there. Now the biggest task is to replicate this, which won’t be easy, but for sure we will be trying again.”
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TALKING POINT HAAS F1 DEBUT Upon your return to Haas F1 Team’s headquarters in North Carolina, were you able to get a sense of how the team’s Australia performance resonated in the United States? “I think it resonated in a very positive way in all of racing in America. Even those who don’t follow Formula One considered it a big achievement for a new team to finish in sixth place and to be from America, which hasn’t had a presence in Formula One in 30 years.” From the outside looking in, it appeared Haas F1 Team was taking a very unorthodox approach to building a Formula One team. And while that is relatively true, did the team’s performance in Australia vindicate your methodology, specifically in regard to partnering with Scuderia Ferrari and Dallara? “I think our plan is working, but we won’t finish sixth every weekend, so we need to be careful with our expectations. I think we showed that you can start a new team and end up in the midfield. We were not last in Australia, which was one of our goals, and I don’t think we will be last this year. How far we’ve come is a sign that our plan is working.” Haas F1 Team came out of the gate strong in their debut. History tells us not every grand prix will bring that kind of success. How do you manage expectations, internally and externally? “We are not being arrogant about our early success and we will have our races where we will underperform. Our sixth-place finish in Australia keeps the team going, working very hard and trying to do the best possible job we can. If we continue to do what we did in Melbourne, good results will come.” The flip side to Grosjean’s sixth-place finish at Australia was Gutiérrez getting caught up in a crash. There was a good bit of damage to the left-rear of Gutiérrez’s car. What needs to be done to repair it and what kind of logistics are involved to get it ready for Bahrain? “Some of the parts, for example the chassis, were sent back to Europe to be checked and fixed because we can’t do it onsite in Bahrain. We have enough spare parts to build up another chassis, so we will use that. Then the chassis that is repaired will be sent to Bahrain via air to serve as our spare. The guys will have to work day and night to get to Bahrain, but it’s all doable. Our spare quantity is down, but we have enough to get going again, so we will just keep on working.”
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TALKING POINT HAAS F1 DEBUT Haas F1 Team seems to handle adversity extremely well – be it with technical issues during the second week of testing at Barcelona and when you endured a pit lane collision in practice Saturday at Australia. From your perspective, how well is this new group of personnel working together? “We chose good, quality people. Nobody gets down in adversity. Everybody gets up. They are working on the solution, not on the problem. They work together because they are professionals and they know they can get it done together as a team. It all comes down to the quality of people, and I think our quality is pretty high.” With wet weather Friday at Australia, it compromised the team’s ability to work on the car’s setup for the race. The weather in Bahrain is usually pretty consistent, and that means consistently dry. How helpful will a full weekend of consistent weather be for you and the team? “If we can get a good day of practice in with both cars and six hours of running, that will be fantastic just to learn more about this machine.”
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TALKING POINT HAAS F1 DEBUT With Gutiérrez’s lap-17 crash and Grosjean changing tires during the red flag, Haas F1 Team didn’t make any pit stops at Australia. How is the team preparing for pit stops and is there any worry that’s one element of the program that hasn’t really been tested? “We didn’t complain that we didn’t have to do a pit stop in Australia, but we will have to do it in Bahrain, for sure. We will do a lot of things during practice in Bahrain to ensure that we are ready. We got away with not doing pit stops in Australia, but we won’t be able to in Bahrain. The focus will be on completing pit stops this weekend so the team goes into the race confident that they have trained properly.” How did the addition of a third tire option impact your strategy for Australia, and what impact do you think it will have on your tire strategy for Bahrain? “Everyone has the third tire option, so you just deal with it. I don’t think it has a huge impact because it’s the same for everybody. We just need to make sure we use the three options we’ve got to the best of our knowledge.”
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MAX VERSU
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US CARLOS
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oro Rosso team mates Max Verstappen and Carlos Teenager Verstappen wa Sainz have played down talk of future friction after demanding that the team or their heated track battle in the season-opening as both were held up by Re Australian grand Prix at Albert Park in Melbourne. The 18-year-old Dutch drive
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as heard over the team radio “joke� in an expletive-laden tirade. rder Sainz to let him through Sainz subsequently passed Palmer and finished enault rookie Jolyon Palmer. ninth, with Verstappen 10th after running in fifth place er called the team strategy a before a re-start.
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TALKING POINT MAX VS CARLOS The highly-rated pair also collided shortly before the finish, Verstappen’s car making contact with the left rear side of Sainz’s and then spinning. “I’m always focusing ahead. So for me, to be honest, it doesn’t really affect me as a struggle,” Verstappen said on Wednesday when asked whether he rivalry made it difficult to be friends with Sainz. “We want to beat each other on track, but I think everybody wants to beat his team mate, and off-track everything is going well so there are no issues there,” the Dutch driver said in an interview with Laureus.com. “We just had a long travel back from Australia, so we didn’t have the time yet,” added Verstappen when asked whether he and Sainz had talked things over. “But I don’t see any big problems in that.” Spaniard Sainz, who pitted before Verstappen in another incident that angered his team mate, told the official formula1.com website that their’s was a healthy rivalry. “At least from my side I have absolutely no issues with anyone,” added the 21-year-old. “I received a touch from behind, saw Max spinning in my mirrors. It was a very interesting race – on the limit, but that’s how Formula One should be.” Toro Rosso is the junior team to Red Bull Racing, with both owned by Austrian energy drink billionaire Dietrich Mateschitz. After an impressive debut season, in which Verstappen became the youngest ever Formula One driver, both are eager to make a splash in a year likely to end in a lot of driver movement around the paddock.
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I WANTED TO F*CK SAKE!
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TALKING POINT MAX UNHAPPY
A
frustrated Max Verstappen unleashed an expletive-laden tirade on the team radio at the Toro Rosso garage as the teenager’s hopes of a maiden podium drifted away at the Australian Grand Prix. The 18-year-old Dutchman started fifth on the grid but finished 10th and was irked to be beaten by ninth-placed teammate Carlos Sainz. Having held his position after a frenetic start, Verstappen’s race began to unravel when he caught his crew napping on an early pit-stop.The botched tyre-change cost
2016 AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX EDITION
him precious momentum and he made his displeasure clear. “I was telling you I had a problem with the tyres, I wanted to pit first,” he said on the team radio before muttering a number of expletives. He was later incensed when blocked by Sainz and demanded his team order the Spaniard to slow and be overtaken. Sainz was allowed to race and Verstappen ended up taking a spin after brushing the rear of his teammate’s car. Verstappen angrily told his team their strategy was a “joke”.
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TALKING POINT MAX UNHAPPY “Quite a frustrating afternoon,” Verstappen said later in a more measured team press release. “After the red flag we had a bit of a miscommunication for the second stop and it got very difficult.” “We have a fantastic car and to finish P10 here is not where we should be. I’m very disappointed as this was a great opportunity for us to get a very good result. Now we just need to focus on the next race and try and score more points.” Sainz, who started seventh on the grid, was scarcely happier with the day, “I did my race and I think we put on a good show. I enjoyed it out there but I think we deserved to end up higher up instead of going backwards.” Team chief Franz Tost also did not mince his words at the end of the day, “This result is very disappointing for us, as we had the speed to finish in a much better position. The only positive aspect is the knowledge that the STR11 is very competitive.”
2016 AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX EDITION
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AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX ALBERT PARK, MELBOURNE QUALIFYING
HAMILTON ON POLE BUT NEW QUALIFYING IS UNPOPULAR TOP TEN 1
LEWIS HAMILTON
MERCEDES
2
NICO ROSBERG
MERCEDES
3
SEBASTIAN VETTEL FERRARI
4
KIMI RÄIKKÖNEN
FERRARI
5
MAX VERSTAPPEN
TORO ROSSO
6
FELIPE MASSA
WILLIAMS
7
CARLOS SAINZ
TORO ROSSO
8
DANIEL RICCIARDO
RED BULL
9
SERGIO PEREZ
FORCE INDIA
10
NICO HULKENBERG FORCE INDIA
2016 AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX EDITION
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QUALIFYING REPORT
T
he new format qualifying hour began with a steady stream of cars flowing onto the circuit from the pit lane as drivers sought to get in a solid lap in advance of the first elimination, which would take place seven minutes into the segment and when that came the first out was Manor’s Pascal Wehrlein, followed 90 seconds later by team-mate Rio Haryanto. The big casualty of the first segment was Red Bull
Racing’s Daniil Kvyat. After Gutierrez and Romain Grosj appeared to get his timing w another flying lap the Russ 12th, was ruled out in P18. The final two to be ruled Felipe Nasr in P17 and Marc The Swede looked like
2016 AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX EDITION
r the Haas cars of Esteban but Renault’s Jolyon Palmer timed his running well and jean had dropped out, Kvyat his final lap won him a Q2 berth at the expense of the wrong and with no chance of Sauber man. sian, who last year qualified Fifteen drivers went into Q2 in search of eight Q3 slots but the eliminations this time began after six minutes. d out of Q2 were Sauber duo First out was Renault’s Kevin Magnussen and he was cus Ericsson in P16. soon followed by Palmer, McLaren’s Jenson Button and e he might scrape through, Fernando Alonso.
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QUALIFYING REPORT
In the unfamiliar environment of the countdown a number of teams were caught out by poor timing and Williams’ Valterri Bottas and Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Pérez were left to retire early to the garage with too little time left to them to start and complete another lap. Q3 arrived and after five minutes, Daniel Ricciardo was the first to be ruled out, the Aussie unable to replicate the kind of lap that saw him make it through to the final
segment in P5. He was follo Felipe Massa. Ahead of them final phase – Verstappen. The Toro Rosso driver segment in P7 but jumped to thanks to an excellent lap o adrift of Räikkönen. The grid driver’s career to date. Utlimately though the b
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owed by Sainz and Williams’ always going to be between Mercedes and Ferrari. m was the main mover of the Rosberg set the first time and took P1 but wqas quickly beaten by Vettel and then by Hamilton. made it through to the final With Raikkonen fourth and time running out Ferrari o P5 in the final classification then elected to forego any more running leaving the field of 1:25.434, just four tenths clear for Rosberg to challenge Hamilton. d slot is the best of the Dutch The German couldn’t find the pace necessary and Robserg’s run of pole stretching back to last season’s battle for the top spots was Japanese Grand Prix was ended by Hamilton.
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2016 AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX EDITION QUALIFYING RESULT 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22
# 44 6 5 7 33 19 55 3 11 27 77 14 22 30 20 9 12 26 8 21 88 94
Driver Lewis Hamilton Nico Rosberg Sebastian Vettel Kimi Räikkönen Max Verstappen Felipe Massa Carlos Sainz Daniel Ricciardo Sergio Perez Nico Hulkenberg Valtteri Bottas Fernando Alonso Jenson Button Jolyon Palmer Kevin Magnussen Marcus Ericsson Felipe Nasr Daniil Kvyat Romain Grosjean Esteban Gutierrez Rio Haryanto Pascal Wehrlein
Team Mercedes Mercedes Ferrari Ferrari Toro Rosso Williams Toro Rosso Red Bull Force India Force India Williams McLaren McLaren Renault Renault Sauber Sauber Red Bull Haas Haas Manor Manor
Time 1:23.837 1:24.197 1:24.675 1:25.033 1:25.434 1:25.458 1:25.582 1:25.589 1:25.753 1:25.865 1:25.961 1:26.125 1:26.304 1:27.601 1:27.742 1:27.435 1:27.958 1:28.006 1:28.322 1:29.606 1:29.627 1:29.642
Laps 14 13 14 13 12 12 14 15 12 14 9 9 9 12 11 9 7 5 6 6 3 3
Note: Haryanto drops three grid places for pit-lane collision with Grosjean in FP3
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THIS IS A BIG
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G MISTAKE
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TALKING POINT QUALIFYING FLOP
W
ithin ten minutes of a grandprix247.com poll going up to gauge the success or flop of the new Formula 1 qualifying introduced at the season opener Australian Grand Prix, over 100 readers (97% at the time) voted that it was a flop, while Sky’s similar poll
had 92% of the voters giving The new format, based during the three sessions rat was intended to inject mo proved a monumental dud.
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g it a thumbs down. Rather than battle to the finish of each session, d on progressive elimination drivers posted early laps and then were content to return ther than at the end of them, to their garages. The last few minutes of both the final ore excitement but instead sessions petered out with no drivers on track, sapping the entire process of suspense.
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TALKING POINT QUALIFYING FLOP Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff who saw his drivers claim the front row, with first and second in Melbourne qualifying, did not mince his words, “I think the new qualifying format is pretty rubbish. We need to discuss it. Everyone is trying to do their best to improve the show and if we haven’t we need to discuss it. The solution is not good in my opinion and that is why we have to look at it again.” Even pole winner Lewis Hamilton questioned the wisdom of the new format, “I miss the old days of qualifying when you would go out and run and run and run. This whole out one lap is neat but I think people were saying it was not exciting for the fans.” “All my engineers were saying it would be the case, they told the FIA but they ignored them. For me it proved how smart my engineers are, although I knew that anyway. I don’t have the solution. I didn’t see it so I don’t know what did or did not work.” “To improve you have to make mistakes. Perhaps this is a step in the wrong direction but I’m not saying go back to the old system,” added the world champion on the occasion of his F1 50th pole. Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said, “It didn’t really work did that qualifying for me and we should apologise to the fans here. We didn’t put on a great show. We need to learn from it. The important things is not to stick our head in the sand, address it properly first. I would prefer to go back to the qualifying sessions we had, but that is my personal opinion.” Mercedes non-executive chairman Niki Lauda, speaking to Sky Sports: “I fully agree with Christian Horner. Have a quick discussion before Bahrain. Everyone makes mistakes – this is a big mistake.”
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TALKING POINT QUALIFYING FLOP
The consensus up and down the pitlane was almost unanimous, and here is what others said: Jenson Button: “In the end it all works out, quickest cars at the front as they save their tyres. It doesn’t really change anything.” Sebastian Vettel: “I don’t see the point why everybody is surprised. We all said what is going to happen and it’s happened. We were told to wait and see, but now we
saw, and I don’t think it’s ver Damon Hill: “Irony is own chequered flag for pole urgently!” Martin Brundle: “Don’t li to change,” says a rather un who has seen more than a f 30 years in F1.
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ry exciting.” Nico Rosberg: “It’s good to try something, but it Lewis could’ve waved his hasn’t worked, so we should go back.” e position. Changes needed Eric Boullier: “Qualifying was exciting for the first few minutes of Q1, but it then petered out very disappointingly. ike it, not acceptable, it’s got Like many of my opposite-numbers within other teams, nimpressed Martin Brundle, on behalf of our sport, I have to say I’m saddened that few qualifying systems in his the new qualifying format produced such a lacklustre spectacle.”
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