DAMS driver secures pole in Le Castellet

It was Sérgio Sette Câmara’s day in France as the Brazilian followed up P1 in Free Practice with his second FIA Formula 2 pole position. The Brazilian ran riot in a chaotic Qualifying session that included two red flags. He was followed by the continually impressive Guanyu Zhou and a resurgent Jack Aitken.

The session was almost immediately brought to a halt as Louis Delétraz and Giuliano Alesi came to blows on their out lap. The former was able to return to the pits where his Carlin team worked miracles to get him back out on track. The Trident racer wasn’t as lucky and his day ended in retirement.

When the session resumed, Nyck De Vries was first out onto the colourful Circuit Paul Ricard, but it was Callum Ilott who took the reins, lapping at 1:43.660 for first. He was swiftly usurped by the man of the day, as Sette Câmara resumed his place at the top of the pile.

Aitken had struggled out in Monaco, but early indications pointed to improvements here in France and he briefly leapfrogged Sette Câmara in the standings, who reacted with another fastest lap to knock him into second. Nicholas Latifi was looking to improve on eighth place in FP, but could only manage third in behind them.

The second red flag of the afternoon was brought out as mechanical gremlins forced Ralph Boschung to a halt on track and ended his day early. The session got back underway with five minutes to go and Championship hopefuls De Vries, Latifi and Luca Ghiotto all required a massive push with them dotted down the grid. Instead, it was UNI-Virtuosi rookie Zhou who pulled a scorcher out of the bag, lapping at 1:43.344 to score his best ever F2 qualifying result of P2.

It wasn’t quite as an enjoyable final lap for Sette Câmara who spun to a halt in his attempts to improve on his best laptime, but the Brazilian had already done enough, putting in the hard yards earlier on to secure a well-deserved pole position, lapping at 1:43.024. Aitken claimed third, ahead of De Vries, Ilott, Latifi, Nobuharu Matsushita, Mick Schumacher, Dorian Boccolacci and Sean Gelael.

 

2019 FIA Formula 2 – Round 5 Qualifying

 

  DRIVER

TEAM

LAPTIME

LAPS

1

Sergio Sette Camara

DAMS

1:43.024

12

2

Guanyu Zhou

UNI-Virtuosi Racing

1:43.344

13

3

Jack Aitken

Campos Racing

1:43.401

13

4

Nyck De Vries

ART Grand Prix

1:43.453

14

5

Callum Ilott

Sauber Junior Team by Charouz

1:43.565

13

6

Nicholas Latifi

DAMS

1:43.650

13

7

Nobuharu Matsushita

Carlin

1:43.763

13

8

Mick Schumacher

PREMA Racing

1:43.768

12

9

Dorian Boccolacci

Campos Racing

1:43.812

14

10

Sean Gelael

PREMA Racing

1:43.895

13

11

Luca Ghiotto

UNI-Virtuosi Racing

1:43.983

12

12

Louis Deletraz

Carlin

1:44.025

13

13

Juan Manuel Correa

Sauber Junior Team by Charouz

1:44.120

13

14

Ralph Boschung

Trident

1:44.371

10

15

Anthoine Hubert

BWT Arden

1:44.612

12

16

Jordan King

MP Motorsport

1:44.882

13

17

Tatiana Calderon

BWT Arden

1:47.006

12

18

Mahaveer Raghunathan

MP Motorsport

1:48.374

13

            Not Classified

                  Giuliano Alesi

Trident

      Nikita Mazepin

ART Grand Prix

   

THOUGHTS FROM VIPS, DARUVALA AND ARMSTRONG

FIA Formula 3: Hello and welcome to today’s FIA Formula 3 press conference following Race 1 here at Silverstone. Joining us today we have our top three finishers from the opening race – our race winner Jüri Vips from Hitech Grand Prix, in second place Jehan Daruvala from PREMA Racing and in third place Marcus Armstrong from PREMA Racing. Jüri congratulations. A magnificent lights to flag victory out there today, highlighted by a really intense fight with Jehan at the front of the field. Could you talk us through that battle with him and some of the defensive moves?

Click Here: liverpool mens jerseyJüri Vips: I think I was struggling with my rear tyres a bit more than them through the whole race so first of all it was almost impossible to break the DRS without safety cars and everything. It was tough in the corners, very tough, and I really had to defend and fight for the victory but in the end I’m really happy that I got it. I’m really happy at the progress we’re all making, myself and Hitech, to start putting these weekends together and really have a clear direction on how to close the gap to the PREMA drivers. I’m really happy.

FIA Formula 3: The safety car towards the end of the race cooled the battle down a little bit but it set things up for a final sprint to the flag. How did you deal with that? I guess it was quite an intense pressure towards the end?

Jüri: Yeah. I think I did a better job with warming up the tyres and I think the safety car also kind of saved me because I got to cool down my rear tyres which were much hotter than the PREMA drivers behind me. I think that helped me to win and the tyres were a bit more ready, especially the front tyres at the safety car restart. I managed to pull a little gap in the last few laps and I don’t think Jehan got to attack after the safety car so that was good.

FIA Formula 3: Congratulations. Jehan moving on to you now. Another podium finish and a hard fought race. Could we get your view of the fight with Jüri out there?

Jehan Daruvala: It was a good battle. All race long I was close but just not close enough when I was catching him right at the end of the straight with the DRS. The virtual safety car was disappointing because that was the closest I was all race when coming out of Maggotts and Becketts. I thought that would be my best opportunity to overtake him but in the end, after the virtual safety car, I could stay within his DRS but I think he was pretty clever when he was in Maggotts and Becketts making sure he was always fast on the exit. Then we’d come close in the middle but I didn’t really have enough downforce on the last part of the circuit. He drove well. He didn’t really make any mistakes apart from one on the opening lap where he went off in Maggotts Becketts but he had a safe gap at that point. To be honest the car was great, I could follow him a bit better than I thought in all the corners except the most crucial corner.

FIA Formula 3: Another podium though, and that puts you into the lead of the Drivers’ Championship now. How much of a boost has this recent run of podiums and high finishes been for you?

Jehan: It is a boost, but like I said yesterday my main focus was to win the race. I wasn’t thinking at any time that I wanted to finish second even though I knew Robert was sixth at one point. Obviously I’m fighting Jüri and Marcus for the championship as well so my goal was to try and take the lead. I tried a couple of times but his defence was quite strong.

FIA Formula 3: Well done today. Marcus moving on to you now. You recovered after dropping off the front row at the start to get into that fight for the lead at one point, how much did that safety car stump your charge? You were so close but did it pull you back a little bit?

Marcus Armstrong: Yeah. As a whole it’s a bit of a disappointing race. The start was strange. I sort of had a shocking launch and everyone just went past me. To be honest I wasn’t too worried at the time because I knew that we had the pace. Obviously quali was quite strong so it wasn’t the end of the world. Once I got past [Christian] Lundgaard quite early in the race it was clear that the car was good and the pace was strong. Then I think there was a VSC straight after that just as I was starting to get on the back of these guys. I think the two, the virtual safety car and the safety car, was not ideal for me just because it kept, as you say, stunting the momentum that I had. In saying that it is difficult to overtake once you arrive to the front two. As Jehan said, Jüri’s not making many mistakes and obviously Jehan’s not making many mistakes, so it was never going to be an easy fight to get past.

FIA Formula 3: We spoke yesterday about it possibly being a race of management out there, how did that match up with your expectations?

Marcus: It wasn’t mental. It’s pretty cold outside so it wasn’t dramatic. In the end I don’t think I’d do anything differently. It was quite a predictable race which is not what I expected yesterday.

FIA Formula 3: Well done on your result. Jüri back to you now. You received high praise from both of your fellow drivers here, how much are you enjoying this fight against PREMA? It’s a really intense battle that we’re seeing at the front of the championship right now.

Jüri: The first few races not so much because the battle for the championship didn’t look so good then, but I’m really happy with how things went at the Red Bull Ring. We put a very strong weekend together and I know we still have Race 2 to go but this is also looking like a very strong weekend, or maybe even better because we got pole position as well. There’s still little things to improve, the pace wasn’t as good as I wanted, but I need to check the data and improve for Race 2 because tomorrow will also be very crucial to make up as many positions as possible and gain as many points on these two as possible to close the gap in the championship. That’s my aim.

Sebastian Vettel claimed the 57^thpole position of his career as Ferrari locked out the front row at Suzuka in a delayed qualifying session for the Japanese Grand Prix. Mercedes will start from row two, with Valtteri Bottas third ahead of team-mate Lewis Hamilton. 

The arrived of Typoon Hagibis yesterday caused the cancellation of all track action at the Mie Prefecture track and qualifying got underway on Sunday morning. 

The first segment began in disjointed fashion with two red flags in quick succession. First Williams’ Robert Kubica went onto the gras at Turn 18 and slid off into the barriers and then, after an eight-minutes halt, Haas’ Kevin Magnussen did almost the same. The Dane got out of shape on the exit of the final chicane and then simply spun out in Turn 18 before slapping the barriers with both end of his car. Magnussen managed to keep his Haas going, however, and limped to the pits, though he was not seen for the rest of the session. 

When the green lights went on again the segment was straightforward for the front runners. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc led the way ahead of Hamilton and Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen. However, eliminated at the end of the session were Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo in 16^thplace, followed by Racing Point’s Sergio Pérez, Williams’ George Russell and the unfortunate Magnussen and Kubica. 

The second session saw Vettel set the early pace with a lap of 1:28.174, though that was soon beaten by Hamilton who set a time of 1:27.826.

The kept the title leader on top until the late in the session when Bottas jumped ahead of his team-mate with an improved lap of 1:27.688. Red Bull’s Alex also improved on his final run of the session, gaining almost seven tenths of a second over his first attempt to steal P3 with a lap of 1:28.156. Ferrari, meanwhile, chose to skip the final runs and Q2 ended with Vettel fourth ahead of Leclerc with Verstappen. Behind the Dutchman, McLaren’s Lando Norris made it into Q3 ahead of team-mate Carlos Sainz, Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly and the Haas of Romain Grosjean. 

Eliminated at the end of Q2 were 11^th-placed Alfa Romeo driver Antonio Giovinazzi, followed by Racing Point’s Lance Stroll, the second Alfa of Kimi Räikkönen, the second Toro Rosso of Daniil Kvyat and Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg. 

It was Vettel, though, who rose up through the ranks to claim pole position. The German set blistering pace to set a outright track record of 1:27.064, almost two tenths of a second quicker than team-mate Charles Leclerc. 

Behind the Ferrari front row lockout Mercedes seized row two with Bottas ahead of Hamilton. Red Bull locked out row three, with Verstappen and Albon posting identical times of 1:27.851, with the Dutchman only securing P5 by virtue of setting the time first. It was impressive performance from Albon on his first F1 weekend at Suzuka. Behind the Red Bulls, McLaren took row four with Carlos Sainz ahead of Lando Norris, while Pierre Gasly was ninth for Toro Rosso ahead of Haas’ Romain Grosjean. 

2019 FIA Formula One Japanese Grand Prix – Qualifying
1 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:27.064 6 240.113
2 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:27.253 0.189 6 239.592
3 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:27.293 0.229 6 239.483
4 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:27.302 0.238 6 239.458
5 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda 1:27.851 0.787 6 237.962
6 Alexander Albon Red Bull/Honda 1:27.851 0.787 6 237.962
7 Carlos Sainz JrMcLaren/Renault 1:28.304 1.240 6 236.741
8 Lando Norris McLaren/Renault 1:28.464 1.400 6 236.313
9 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso/Honda 1:28.836 1.772 6 235.323
10 Romain Grosjean Haas/Ferrari 1:29.341 2.277 3 233.993
Click Here: liverpool mens jersey11 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 1:29.254 1.566 6 234.221
12 Lance Stroll Racing Point/Mercedes 1:29.345 1.657 6 233.982
13 Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 1:29.358 1.670 6 233.948
14 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso/Honda 1:29.563 1.875 6 233.413
15 Nico Hülkenberg Renault 1:30.112 2.424 4 231.991
16 Daniel Ricciardo Renault 1:29.822 1.417 8 232.740
17 Sergio Pérez Racing Point/Mercedes 1:30.344 1.939 9 231.395
18 George Russell Williams/Mercedes 1:30.364 1.959 10 231.344
– Kevin Magnussen Haas/Ferrari 2 
– Robert Kubica Williams/Mercedes 1 
 

 

 

Shanghai has seen a combined 206 cars start the previous seven runnings, with 22 of those failing to see the chequered flag, making an 89.3% finish rate.

 

The 206 starters at Shanghai have raced for 31,332 laps in all, or 170,791 km. The most came in 2016, with the 31 entrants covering 27,849 km, for the only time more than 5,000 laps have been covered in China.

 

Click Here: liverpool mens jerseyThe LMP1 podium at Shanghai 2018 hosted a reunion of former F1 World Champions and McLaren F1 team-mates Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button, the pair sharing a podium for the first time since the 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix. Alonso’s Toyota TS050 featured Kazuki Nakajima and Sebastien Buemi, whilst Button’s SMP Racing BR1 crew contained Vitaly Petrov – all former F1 drivers.

 

All four class lap records were broken in 2017, with Sebastien Buemi lapping the 5.451km circuit in 1m45.892s to set a new WEC race lap record.  Because of the heavy rain during the 2018 race, none of the 2017 records were broken.

 

Pedro Lamy (LMGTE AM) has both the race in Shanghai four times and in two different cars (Corvette in 2012 and Aston Martin in 2014 / 2016 / 2017).  The Portuguese driver has also the most class pole positions with five, all for Aston Martin (2014/2015/2016/2017/2018).

 

Julien Canal is the only driver to have won the race in Shanghai in two different classes (LMGTE Am in 2012 and LMP2 in 2014 and 2017)

 

G-Drive Racing has won the LMP2 class three times (2013, 2014 and 2016). 

 

Jackie Chan DC Racing won the LMP2 class in 2018, becoming the first Chinese flagged team to win at home in Shanghai.

 

The longest race distance was in 2016 with Timo Bernhard, Brendon Hartley and Mark Webber winning after completing 1062.95km (195 laps).  This race distance was equalled in 2017.  

 

Ferrari has never won in the LMGTE Pro class at Shanghai.  Aston Martin won in 2012, 2013 and 2018, Porsche won in 2014 and 2015 and Ford in 2016 and 2017. 

 

Chevrolet won the LMGTE Am class in 2012 with Larbre Competition, in 2013 it was Ferrari with 8 Star Motorsports, Ferrari with AF Corse in 2015, Aston Martin Racing in 2014, 2016 and 2017, with Porsche taking their first class win in 2018 with Dempsey-Proton Racing.

 

Stefan Mucke has secured the LMGTE Pro pole position three times for two different manufacturers.  In 2013 and 2014 the German driver took pole position with Aston Martin, alongside Darren Turner, and in 2018 he took pole position with Olivier Pla for Ford in the American manufacturers final season in the WEC.

 

Pedro Lamy secured the LMGTE Am pole five times in the seven editions of the Shanghai race, four with Canadian driver Paul Dalla Lana. In 2019 Dalla Lana is looking to secure his fifth consecutive pole with his new teammates Darren Turner, who has three LMGTE Pro class poles in Shanghai, and Ross Gunn. 

 

Mike Conway, Nicki Thiim and Olivier Pla have all secured pole position for the race in Shanghai in two different classes.  Conway in LMP2 (2013) and LMP1 (2017/ 2018), Thiim in LMGTE Am (2013) and LMGTE Pro (2017) and Pla in LMP2 (2014) and LMGTE Pro (2018). 

 

Aston Martin has been the most successful brand in LMGTE qualifying taking the class pole on no less than 10 occasions from a maximum of 14 (6 in LMGTE Am and 4 in LMGTE Pro).

 

In LMP1 Alex Wurz secured pole position for Toyota in 2012 and 2013 (with Nicolas Lapierre), in 2014 Neel Jani and Romain Dumas and in 2015 and 2016 Mark Webber and Brendon Hartley took pole position for Porsche. In 2017 and 2018 Kamui Kobayashi and Mike Conway took pole for Toyota

 

The fastest pole position average lap was set in 2015 with a 1m42.719 by Brendon Hartley (1m42.621) and Mark Webber (1m42.818)

 

Lap Records

LMP1

S. Buemi

Toyota TS050-Hybrid

1m45.892

185.3kph

5 November 2017

LMP2

B. Senna

Oreca 07 – Gibson

1m51.793

175.5kph

5 November 2017

LMGTE Pro

O. Pla

Ford GT

2m02.154

160.6kph

5 November 2017

LMGTE Am

M. Dienst

Porsche 911 RSR (991)

2m03.531

158.9kph

5 November 2017

 

Shanghai International Circuit

Work started in April 2003 and in 18 months the area was transformed from swampland to an international racetrack with a team of 3000 engineers working around the clock.

 

The track layout was inspired from the Chinese character shang  (上) the first character in the name of the city Shanghai, meaning “above” or “ascend”.

 

Circuit Length:  5.451 km (3.387 miles) / 1170m: The length of the back straight at the Shanghai International Circuit.

 

Shanghai

With a population of 24,256,800 (in 2014), Shanghai is the largest Chinese city by population and the largest city proper by population in the world.

 

Shanghai municipality area is 6,340.5 km2 or 2,448.1 sq miles

 

The two Chinese characters in the city’s name are 上 (shàng, “above”) and 海 (hǎi, “sea”), together meaning “Upon-the-Sea”.

 

Shanghai also has various nicknames in English, including “Pearl of the Orient” and “Paris of the East”.

Kimi Raikkonen’s long-time manager Steve Robertson says he was certain that the driver would find some way to stay in Formula 1 when his time at Ferrari finally came to an end.

“I knew that he would keep driving,” Robertson insisted. “If he did not stay at Ferrari, he would like to look at another option. And there are not many alternatives.”

The Finn began his F1 career at Sauber in 2001 before moving first to McLaren and then to Ferrari.

After a two year sabbatical from the sport he returned in 2012 with Lotus, before heading back to Ferrari in 2014 for another four seasons at Maranello alongside Sebastian Vettel.

With the Scuderia’s decision to promote Charles Leclerc next season, the 38-year-old took the chance to ‘swap’ places with the youngster and head back to Sauber in a surprise two-year deal rather than retire.

“Kimi loves driving,” Robertson explained. “He could have stopped, but he just loves driving at the top in Formula 1.”

“He has been with F1’s iconic team for eight years, which is incredible,” he added. “Now he may decide to end his career at the team where he started it.

• Vettel admits he’ll be sad to see Raikkonen go

Raikkonen admitted that this was likely to be his last deal in F1. “There’s a big chance for sure. I will stop when I feel it is right for me,” he said last week.

Raikkonen had been told by Ferrari boss Maurizio Arrivabene before the Italian Grand Prix that they weren’t renewing his contract for another year.

“This is what happened. It’s not up to me and it’s not my decision,” Raikkonen replied when about the process. “This is the outcome. At least we have an outcome.”

The idea that he would head back to Sauber had been at Kimi’s instigation, and it came together remarkably quickly.

“I obviously know people from the past and it started after that,” commented Raikkonen.

“Kimi had a meeting with them first and then he handed over to me,” Robertson told C Morelle. “They were interested and Kimi made it clear that he was interested.

“Then he gave me a job and we did [the deal] as we have throughout his career,” he added.

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Artur Kubica, the father of Williams driver Robert Kubica, sees his son’s return to the F1 grid in 2019 as a “miracle” given the ordeal he was forced to surmount.

The Polish driver’s return to Grand Prix racing has been well chronicled and was made effective recently when Williams announced that the 33-year-old would be included in the team’s line-up for next season.

Since almost severing his right arm eight years ago in a horrendous rally crash, it’s been a long and painful road back to the grid for Kubica, marked by a massive physical and mental battle.

“If miracles happen, then yes, it is a miracle,” Artur Kubica told Polish broadcaster TVN24.

“It was an uphill struggle for him. I remember when after six months, his leg had healed and then he broke it again. Such cases can destroy you psychologically.

Williams: Reserve role in 2018 key to Kubica’s return to F1

Professor Mario Igor Rossello, the surgeon who led the team that oversaw Kubica immediately after his tragic crash remembers the uncertainty surrounding the driver’s medical situation.

“We had to fight to keep him alive,” said the Italian doctor. “The fact that we saved his hand was an additional reward.”

Kubica’s return to F1 is perhaps the greatest comeback in the history of the sport, but the 2008 Canadian Grand Prix winner admits that there were days when he almost lost hope.

“Nobody knows exactly how much surgery I had,” he said.

“Certainly more than there are races in Formula 1, and many that were unsuccessful and put me back six months.”

When the lights go out in Melbourne next March, a beaming Artur Kubica will be watching.

“Today I’m happy that he is where he is. I am proud to be his father.”

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Lance Stroll has been all but confirmed as Sergio Perez’s team mate at Force India next year, but the Canadian will run with his father’s team as next week’s post-season test in Abu Dhabi.

It’s a logical step for the 20-year-old now former Williams driver who will enjoy a head start on his 2019 programme with the pink outfit.

Force India calls out ‘hypocrisy’ of Haas protest

According to a tweet from Force India published earlier today, Tuesday’s schedule should see Perez begin the day before handing duties over to Stroll for the afternoon, while the Canadian is expected to get a full day in the car on Wednesday.

.@SChecoPerez and @lance_stroll will be testing for @ForceIndiaF1 in the @pirellisport test next week.

Schedule:
Day 1 – AM: Sergio
Day 1 – PM: Lance

Day 2 – Lance

— Racing Point Force India F1 (@ForceIndiaF1) November 25, 2018

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Several drivers will be making premature switches to their 2019 teams next week. Kimi Raikkonen will join Sauber, while Charles Leclerc will cross paths with the Finn when he hooks up with Ferrari.

Daniil Kvyat will return to action with Toro Rosso, Robert Kubica and George Russell will get down to work with Williams, and Carlos Sainz will enjoy an early run with McLaren.

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Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has added his voice to the ranks of pundits advising Max Verstappen to get on top of his tendency towards ‘red mist’ in crucial situations.

Wolff was responding to the events of the Brazilian Grand Prix in which Verstappen was spun out of the lead of the race due to contact with Estaban Ocon.

Although the incident was caused by the Force India trying to unlap himself, Verstappen was criticised by race winner Lewis Hamilton for not being more aware of the potential danger posed by the situation.

Verstappen subsequently had a physical altercation with the Frenchman in parc ferme for which he was handed two days ‘community service’ by the FIA. Ocon himself was given a ten-second stop-and-go penalty during the race for causing the collision.

• Verstappen felt ‘provoked’ by Ocon in parc fermé

Wolff said that the first 44 laps of the Brazilian GP proved the Dutch driver’s huge talent, and that the rest would come in time with experience.

“You can see there is a future champion coming together – unbelievable talent and speed,” he said.

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“Once the raw edges are off, he will be somebody who will be a world champion one day,” Wolff added.

“In a few years, he will look at the footage of [the race in Brazil] and maybe have his own opinion as to whether that was the right behaviour or not.

“But you can’t accelerate those things,” he pointed out. “This is a learning process.”

Wolff dismissed reported accusations from Red Bull motorsports consultant Dr Helmut Marko that Ocon had deliberately punted Verstappen off the track in order to help Hamilton win the race.

Marko suggested that Ocon had done so in order to ensure he would be handed a race seat with the Silver Arrows in 2020, but Wolff said that such suggestions were without foundation.

“This is how Dr Marko sees the world, and I want to leave it with that,” he said. “I don’t want to go on this level.”

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