Canada post race: Sahara Force India

22/06/2015 By Clive Couldwell in Formula One Tags: Nico Hulkenberg, Sahara Force India, Sergio Perez Leave a comment

Sergio Perez

Sahara Force India scored four points in today’s Canadian Grand Prix as Nico Hulkenberg raced to eighth place ahead of teammate Sergio Perez in P11.

P8 Nico Hulkenberg VJM08-01
Strategy: Used SuperSofts (28 laps) – New Softs (41 laps)

Nico Hulkenberg: “I am very happy to come away from here with four points – that’s definitely some positive news. It was not the most eventful race and I was by myself most of the time, except for the battle with Sebastian (Vettel). In hindsight I probably shouldn’t have tried so hard to defend against Seb, but when you’re a racer you just don’t want to give up a position without a fight. He took the outside line, I was on the inside, braking on the dirt and the marbles. I could see it coming but he didn’t leave me anywhere to go so to avoid contact I kept braking, lost the rear and spun. Fortunately I was able to get going and didn’t lose too much time. Overall it’s been a positive weekend: we keep finding good performance from our VJM08 and the team is pushing hard to find more speed. We’ve had a good run in the last few races, with Checo scoring in Monaco and my points today. It means we are making good progress and we’re closing in on fifth in the championship, so the second half of the season should be very interesting.”

P11 Sergio Perez VJM08-02
Strategy: Used SuperSofts (24 laps) – New Softs (45 laps)

Sergio Perez: “It was a tough race today and I just didn’t have enough pace to finish in the points. In the first stint I was suffering with a lot of understeer and couldn’t really attack the cars ahead of me. The main battle was against the Red Bulls and I managed to get ahead of Ricciardo, but it was hard to match the pace of Kvyat. Towards the end of the race I had to save the tyres, the brakes and fuel, so I just had to make sure I brought the car home.”

Robert Fernley, Deputy Team Principal:
“It’s encouraging to see another strong performance from the VJM08 and to come away from Montreal by adding four more points to our tally. Nico has been impressive all weekend and eighth place is a well-deserved result following an excellent drive. Sergio just missed out on the points, but he wasn’t particularly happy with the car balance and in such a straightforward race there were no opportunities to use the strategy to our advantage. The points’ standings in the midfield are very tight and we are just a couple of points adrift of fifth place. The whole team has worked extremely hard to extract performance from the VJM08 and we are optimistic of adding more speed in the races to come. So there’s plenty to look forward to as we approach the middle of the season.”

Nico Hulkenberg

Canada post race: Lotus

22/06/2015 By Clive Couldwell in Formula One Tags: Lotus F1 Team Leave a comment

Romain Grosjean

Pastor Maldonado

Lotus F1 moved into fifth position in the FIA Formula 1 Constructors’ Championship after a strong Canadian Grand Prix where Pastor Maldonado finished seventh and Romain Grosjean tenth at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. Maldonado had been running in seventh before contact passing a backmarker meant an additional pit stop and time penalty. His seventh position represents his first points of the year.

Grosjean started from P5 on the grid on his qualifying super soft compound tyres, changing to new soft tyres on laps 27 and 49. A five-second time penalty was added to his race time, but it didn’t affect his tenth place finish. Maldonado started from P6 on the grid on his qualifying super soft tyres, changing to new soft tyres on lap 17.

Romain Grosjean, P10, E23-04:
“It was good for the team to get both cars in the points. Unfortunately, that car didn’t feel as strong as it did in qualifying but I was able to push nevertheless. It can be difficult with traffic here and I was held up a few times even when there were blue flags. I thought I was past the Manor, but it was soon clear that I wasn’t. It was my fault entirely and I apologise for it. You never stop learning as a driver.”

Pastor Maldonado, P7, E23-03:
“Finally, here we are in the points. I think now we’ve started scoring there’s potential for this to be a great season for us as we have really good pace. It was a good race. We had to pit quite early to gain the place against Nico Hulkenberg which made the later part of the race quite tricky and I couldn’t defend later on as a consequence. I’m pleased for the team that we got both cars in the points; let’s continue like this.”

Federico Gastaldi, Deputy Team Principal:
“It was a happy day for us. Pastor scored his first points of the season after driving a strong and measured race and Romain was in the points too even if it was in a more eventful manner. For Pastor this should be a turning point for his season and we thank all his supporters in Venezuela and PDVSA for their faith in us. Both cars scoring points is always our target and we want more of the same for the rest of the year.”

Nick Chester, Technical Director:
“That was pretty good. Pastor drove strongly and consistently with a long second stint for seventh place. Romain should have finished further up were it not for the rub with the Manor but the weekend overall has been positive. We ran well in qualifying and if anything lost a little bit of pace in the race, which is something we’ll be studying ahead of our visit to Austria. All things considered, we have a good platform for the races ahead. ”

Grosjean makes a pit stop

Canadian Grand Prix

02/06/2015 By Clive Couldwell in Formula One Tags: Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Ile Notre Dame, speed challenge, St Lawrence river Leave a comment

Situated on the man-made Ile Notre Dame in the St Lawrence river, the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve is a true high speed challenge with the cars averaging 130mph over the course of a lap.

The circuit combines long straights with tight chicanes and each team sets up their car to maximise straight line speed.

This race is a firm favourite on the calendar due to its unrivalled atmosphere. Montreal (4-7 June) becomes a party town during the race weekend and the locals create a fantastic atmosphere from the grandstands.

Jordan-Force India nostalgia

30/05/2015 By Clive Couldwell in Formula One Tags: Eddie Jordan, Force India, Force India Factory, Giancarlo Fisichella, Ralf Schumacher, Sahara Force India F1, Vitantonio Liuzzi Leave a comment

It’s funny what you find in the archives. Just been sifting through old images. Bring back memories?

Ralf Schumacher (GER) in the Force India garage. Formula One Testing, Day Two, Jerez, Spain, Wednesday, 5 December 2007.

Ralf Schumacher (left) in the Force India garage, Jerez, Spain, Wednesday, 5 December 2007.

Giancarlo Fisichella (ITA) tests for Force India Formula One Testing, Day Two, Jerez, Spain, 05 December 2007.

Giancarlo Fisichella, 2007.

Vitantonio Liuzzi (ITA) Force India Formula One Testing, Day Three, Jerez, Spain, 06 December 2007.

Vitantonio Liuzzi, 2007.

Force India Factory. Force India Factory, Silverstone, England. 23 November 2007

The former Jordan GP now Force India Factory, Silverstone, 2007.

… but here are the crackers. Ah, the drums. Dear old Eddie:

Giedo Van Der Garde (NED) Force India Formula One Testing, Barcelona, Spain, 13 November 2007.

Giedo Van Der Garde, Barcelona, Spain, 13 November 2007.

Eddie Jordan (IRE) and his band 'The Robbers' Force India F1 Christmas Party, 20 December 2007. Force India F1 Factory, Silverstone, UK

Eddie Jordan and his band ‘The Robbers’, Force India F1 Christmas Party, 20 December 2007. Force India F1 Factory, Silverstone.

(L to R): Eddie Jordan (IRE) and Vijay Mallya (IND) Force India F1 Team Owner Force India F1 Christmas Party, 20 December 2007. Force India F1 Factory, Silverstone, UK

Eddie Jordan and Vijay Mallya (right) Force India F1 Team Owner.

Monaco images: Williams

30/05/2015 By Clive Couldwell in Formula One Tags: Williams F1 Leave a comment

Telling shot of Susie Wolff. Wonder what was going on inside her head. One hopes her chances of being anything other than a development driver – vital role though it is – aren’t slipping away. Comments made recently revealed her obvious frustration.

Felipe Massa

Monaco images: Lotus

30/05/2015 By Clive Couldwell in Formula One Tags: Lotus F1 Team, Monaco Grand Prix, Romain Grosjean Leave a comment

A few nice pics to draw a line under last week’s somewhat controversial Monaco Grand Prix. It was a real shame the way it ended. There’s still controversy raging over why the team did what it did. I don’t think Hamilton was entirely blameless but the team should really have known what was going on…

Romain Grosjean (FRA) Lotus F1 E23. Monaco Grand Prix, Sunday 24th May 2015. Monte Carlo, Monaco.

Romain Grosjean (above and immediately below).

Pharrell Williams (USA) Singer-Songwriter with the Lotus F1 E23. Monaco Grand Prix, Sunday 24th May 2015. Monte Carlo, Monaco.

You know who…

A great vantage point. Not quite as good as my Hotel de Paris balcony, but hey…

Monaco post race: Lotus

24/05/2015 By Clive Couldwell in Formula One Tags: Lotus F1 Team, Pastor Maldonado, Pharrell Williams, Romain Grosjean Leave a comment

Romain Grosjean

Romain Grosjean with Pharrell Williams

Pastor Maldonado

Romain Grosjean

Grosjean started from P15 on the grid on fresh super soft compound tyres, changing to new soft tyres on lap 17. Maldonado started from P8 on the grid on his qualifying super soft tyres before retiring with five laps completed. Grosjean drove a distinguished Monaco Grand Prix to fight back into a point scoring position from his P15 start, but ultimately finished 12th after an overambitious move from a rival driver, whilst Pastor Maldonado suffered from a suspected hydraulic leak meaning he had to retire from the race.
(Lotus F1 ran with branding for the creative force that is Pharrell Williams in today’s race to highlight the start of a new global collaborative marketing partnership between Lotus F1 Team and Pharrell Williams).

Romain Grosjean, P12, E23-04: “I didn’t see much of the accident with Verstappen, just his car flying past me in the air! Overtaking in Monaco is difficult and I think he gained that bit of experience today. It’s good to know he’s okay, as it was a bit dangerous for both of us, and it cost us what would have been a hard-earned point. Until then my race had been going pretty well when you consider where we started. The car felt good and the strategy was working well. After the accident, I turned around which established all four wheels were there, then looked in the mirrors to see if the rear wing was still there too, then got on with my race.”

Pastor Maldonado, DNF, E23-03: “I had a problem with the brakes and I could feel the pedal pressure wasn’t right from very early on and that compromised our race from the off. It got worse and worse so we had to retire the car. It’s a shame for the team, we had a good car here, very good pace for the race and I think a strong strategy. There’s potential in the car, we just need to carry on, work hard, and look forward in the championship.”

Federico Gastaldi, Deputy Team Principal: “What a frustrating day for both our drivers. Pastor was in a great position to score well but a technical issue meant he had to retire. Romain was also looking like getting a point after his penalty-place start but was robbed of that by an incident. The positives are that both drivers remain optimistic and full of praise for the car. Monaco is always a unique event and for us. We started something special with our new relationship with Pharrell Williams. We’re looking forward to Canada for many reasons.”

Nick Chester, Technical Director: “With Romain we did all we could with strategy to assist him to move up the order, and he was in 10th position after starting 15th, but he was taken off by Max Verstappen. For Pastor it was a real shame as he was in a strong position with a quick car with seventh position looking like a strong probability. Unfortunately he suffered from what looks like was a hydraulic leak which meant we had to retire him. Despite less than positive results here, we could see good pace from the E23, meaning we’re quietly confident heading to the next races.”

Pharrell Williams (USA) Singer-Songwriter with the Lotus F1 Team team. Monaco Grand Prix, Sunday 24th May 2015. Monte Carlo, Monaco.

Pharrell Williams, the American singer-songwriter with the Lotus F1 team – as if the man needs any introduction. But you may not know..

Pharrell Williams (USA) Singer-Songwriter with Romain Grosjean (FRA) Lotus F1 Team and the Lotus F1 Team team. Monaco Grand Prix, Sunday 24th May 2015. Monte Carlo, Monaco.

Pharrell with Romain Grosjean.

Monaco post race: Williams

24/05/2015 By Clive Couldwell in Formula One Tags: Canada, Felipe Massa, Monaco Grand Prix, safety car, Valtteri Bottas, Williams F1 Leave a comment

Monte Carlo, Monaco. Saturday 23 May 2015. Felipe Massa, Williams FW37 Mercedes. Photo: Glenn Dunbar/Williams ref: Digital Image _89P0038

Felipe Massa (and bottom).

Valtteri Bottas

Valtteri Bottas finished 14th and Felipe Massa 15th in today’s Monaco Grand Prix. Massa made contact with another car at Turn 1 causing a front-right tyre puncture. His first lap pitstop for new tyres and a new front wing resulted in him re-joining at the back of the pack and unable to fight for any points.

Starting P16, Bottas struggled for pace and was further compromised by a late safety car. The team heads into the next race in Canada confident that the FW37 will show a marked improvement in performance and will be back challenging for points.

Rob Smedley, Head of Performance Engineering: “It was quite a difficult weekend and we were nowhere near where we should be. At Monaco, if qualifying doesn’t go well you have partly made your bed so we knew getting points was going to be tough. It wasn’t a great race for us but we can’t dwell too much as we are out of position. We have to look at all areas to see what went wrong here with the inherent car performance and set-up. We cannot return here in 2016 and repeat this performance. We now have to focus firmly on the next three races. We have a really good package and some healthy upgrades coming soon so we look forward to coming back stronger in Canada.”

Valtteri Bottas: “This has been a tough weekend that ended in an even tougher race. We tried everything to try and get some points but with the pace we had it wasn’t possible today. We tried the two-stop strategy which never really came to us, with the safety car coming at just the wrong time. There are not too many positives from the weekend but plenty we can learn from as to why we struggled. We know we still have a good car and go to races in the next few weeks where we should be able to demonstrate our true performance.”

Felipe Massa: “Today was a very frustrating day and a race to forget for us. My race was effectively over in Turn 1, with another car pushing me over and I was left with a lot of damage to my tyre and front wing. The pitstop I had to make on Lap 1 put me right at the back of the pack and I spent the rest of the race looking out for blue flags. The car has not had its usual performance all weekend but we know that we are heading to tracks in Canada and Austria that suit our car and we should be back fighting towards the front.”

Too many vodkas…

Monaco post race: Sahara Force India

24/05/2015 By Clive Couldwell in Formula One Tags: Monaco, Nico Hulkenberg, Sahara Force India F1, Sergio Perez, Vijay Mallya Leave a comment

Sergio Perez

Dr. Vijay Mallya (IND) Sahara Force India F1 Team Owner on the grid. Monaco Grand Prix, Sunday 24th May 2015. Monte Carlo, Monaco.

Dr Vijay Mallya, Sahara Force India F1’s team owner on the grid.

The team scored six points today as Sergio Perez raced to seventh place – securing his first points finish on the streets of Monaco. Team mate Nico Hulkenberg recovered to P11 after being pushed into the wall by Fernando Alonso on lap one of the race.

P7 Sergio Perez VJM08-02
Strategy: Used SuperSofts (36 laps) – New Softs (28 laps) – Used SuperSofts (14 laps)
“I’m very happy right now. As a team we’ve done a fantastic job all weekend and seventh place is the result of all this hard work. For me it was a normal race – very straightforward and quiet, which is strange for Monaco. I was racing on my own for most of the race because the cars ahead were able to pull a gap on me and I had space to the cars behind. It was difficult to keep concentration for 78 laps, but after the safety car I was on fresh supersoft tyres and it was really good fun. I was able to attack Kimi (Raikkonen), but there wasn’t an opportunity to get the position. It’s a very important result for the whole team and gives us six points for the championship. It means I’ve scored points in half the races this season, which shows we’ve done a good job of maximising our opportunities.”

P11 Nico Hulkenberg VJM08-01
Strategy: New Softs (1 lap) – New SuperSofts (30 laps) – New Softs (47 laps)
“My race was obviously very difficult right from the start: Fernando (Alonso) more or less pushed me into the wall on the first lap and from that moment I basically had to play catch up. I knew he was there so I left him a bit more space and turned in later, but he must have locked up as he crashed into me and sent me straight into the wall. The only damage was to the front wing, but getting back to the pits and changing the wing cost me a lot of time. My race was already compromised then – it is not easy to race from so far back because you have to let the leaders through and you’re on the back foot the whole time. In terms of pace I was doing quite well, especially when in clean air, but obviously getting lapped costs you a lot of time. It is a shame as I feel that without the incident I would have been well into the points today. I still take encouragement from our pace and hopefully we can maximise the next weekend in Canada and get some more points.”

Vijay Mallya, Team Principal and Managing Director
“Monaco always gives us an opportunity to shine and seventh place for Sergio is a fantastic result for the team. We did most of the hard work yesterday in qualifying and Sergio delivered a faultless performance this afternoon. He should be very proud of scoring his first points in Monaco. I feel very disappointed for Nico who was unlucky to be hit by Fernando. He had similar pace to Sergio and would surely have scored good points as well. With six points we have moved up to sixth in the championship. The team is doing a tremendous job and the result today helps keep the pressure on the teams around us.”

Team pit stop.

Monaco qualifying: Force India

23/05/2015 By Clive Couldwell in Formula One Tags: Monaco, Nico Hulkenberg, Sahara Force India F1, Sergio Perez Leave a comment

Nico Hulkenberg

Sahara Force India showed well on the streets of Monaco with Sergio Perez qualifying in seventh place – the team’s best starting position of the year so far. Nico Hulkenberg progressed to Q2 and qualified P13 (but he’s expected to start from P11).

P7 Sergio Perez VJM08-02
Q1: 1:17.376 Q2: 1:16.999 Q3: 1:16.808
“I’m really happy and excited with seventh place today. I always say qualifying in Monaco counts for 90% of your final result, so it was important to be strong. To be quick here you need confidence in the car and in yourself, and I had both today. To make it through to Q3 was already a great effort by the team, but to be starting P7 means we have already done a lot of the hard work for the race. We went out early in Q3 because we thought the rain was coming and I had a mega lap. I was worried some of the others might improve their times, especially with the track evolution, but fortunately it was not the case. Tomorrow we have a good opportunity to score some important points. We know that anything can happen on a Sunday in Monaco, but I’m focused on getting a clean start and a good first lap.”

P13 Nico Hulkenberg VJM08-01
Q1: 1:17.552 Q2: 1:17.193
“My final lap was a very good one and I believe I could have been firmly in the top ten, but unfortunately I made a small mistake in the final corner, which cost me enough time to miss out on Q3. Obviously it is disappointing, especially knowing how important your starting position is here. I am likely to be 11th on the grid, which means we will need to choose the right strategy to try and make up some positions. If we make the right calls tomorrow, we should be able to get some points. The brush with the wall in Q1 didn’t do any damage but it cost a lot in terms of rhythm: you spend a long time trying to get the right confidence around Monaco and an incident like this sets you back a little. Qualifying in Monaco is always a challenge, but one I really enjoyed. The car feels much better than it did in Barcelona and we seem to have more performance in our hands which is encouraging. Nevertheless, I expect a tough race where good tyre management will be especially important.”

Vijay Mallya, Team Principal and Managing Director
“Today’s strong performance in qualifying is an important boost for the team. Sergio’s laps were competitive right from the off and he had the confidence to extract every fraction of a second from the car. It’s an important result because track position is essential around here. Nico also looked on course for a top ten qualifying position, but fell just short of the mark: it is proof of how competitive the midfield is at the moment that one small mistake can cost so many positions on the grid. Nonetheless, both drivers seemed happy with the car and this gives us confidence for tomorrow. Overtaking is hard on this track, but as this team has shown in previous years it can be done. With an aggressive strategy we should be able to target points for both cars.”

Sergio Perez

Monaco qualifying: Williams

23/05/2015 By Clive Couldwell in Formula One Tags: Felipe Massa, Monaco, Monaco Grand Prix, Valtteri Bottas, Williams F1 Leave a comment

Felipe Massa

Valtteri Bottas

Felipe Massa qualified 14th and Valtteri Bottas 17th for the Monaco Grand Prix. Both drivers found it difficult to get the tyres up to temperature and found an overall lack of grip which hindered their ability to make it into Q3.

Rob Smedley, Head of Performance Engineering: “It was clearly a tough qualifying session for us and we are out of our usual position. We have been pouring through the data all week to try and find ways to improve our pace here, and whilst we have made some inroads, qualifying has just come too soon for us to recover everything. Starting 14th and 17th in Monaco is never ideal because it so difficult to overtake, but we will see what we can do and the aim will be to get both cars home in the points.”

Felipe Massa: “There were no major issues during qualifying that caused us to be out of position; Monaco just isn’t a circuit that suits the characteristics of our car. We struggled throughout the day and found it hard to set the lap times we wanted. Tomorrow won’t be easy, but anything is possible due to the nature of the track. It’s not a great result as we have become used to qualifying higher, but I’m confident we can still get points and that must be our focus.”

Valtteri Bottas: “I had some traffic on my initial option run and couldn’t go at the sort of pace needed to keep the tyre temperatures correct, and on my timed lap I just lacked overall grip throughout the lap. We knew this track was not going to suit our car and we’ve been struggling to get the tyres to work throughout the weekend. Then again this is the sort of track where lots of things can happen and if we stay out of trouble and finish the race then points are still possible.”

Valtteri Bottas, and below with team members.

Monaco qualifying: Lotus

23/05/2015 By Clive Couldwell in Formula One Tags: Lotus F1 Team, Monaco Grand Prix, Mr Grosjean, Pastor Maldonado, Romain Grosjean Leave a comment

Romain Grosjean

Pastor Maldonado

Mr Grosjean again

Pastor Maldonado placed ninth and Romain Grosjean 11th in today’s qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix. Clouds rolled in over the hills ahead of the session, but the track remained dry, save for a gentle smattering of spots during the course of the top 10-deciding Q3 as Maldonado out-qualified Grosjean for the first time in 2015.

Maldonado’s time of 1min 16.946secs was just 0.015secs away from the P8 position ahead. Grosjean was due to start from P16 as he has a five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change, which now becomes P15 following a penalty for Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz, with Maldonado promoted to eighth place.

Romain Grosjean, E23-04. Q: P11, 1:17.007. FP3: P10, 1:17.806
“I made a mistake on what should have been my fastest lap in Q2 and I was aiming for a much better lap time which would have put me in the top ten. Basically I locked a wheel heading into turn fifteen and went straight on which lost me about four tenths. The car is looking good for the race, even if I have it all to do with my penalty meaning I start from P15 on the grid.”

Pastor Maldonado, E23-03. Q: P9, 1:16.946. FP3: P12, 1:17.956
“That was not too bad. The car felt better from this morning as we made some beneficial changes. I think we could have done better, but we had to hold the car a while to get some track space for the final lap and that meant that everything cooled a little. P8 is a strong position to start from and I have a feeling that tomorrow will be a good race for us.”

Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director:
How was qualifying for the team? “We’re reasonably happy, although we always want a bit more and it would have been good to be ahead of both of the Toro Rossos and Force Indias for the race tomorrow. Pastor did a great job to get into the top ten whilst Romain will have a tough race through qualifying in eleventh position then getting a gearbox penalty which drops him five places.”

What are the considerations for tomorrow’s race? “Ensuring clean laps, avoiding any contact with the barriers and other cars is particularly relevant here. With Pastor, it’s a case of trying to make positions whenever possible against similarly paced cars. Romain on the other hand will be around much slower cars at the start so we will look at what we can do strategically to assist him to move forwards as soon as possible.”

BREAKING: Drama in Berlin as Di Grassi excluded from ePrix

23/05/2015 By Clive Couldwell in Formula E Leave a comment

Too quick for my own good. Race winner Lucas di Grassi has been excluded from the DHL Berlin ePrix after his Audi Sport ABT car was found to have been running with a modified front wing.

The race-winning car failed post-race scrutineering where it was discovered that the front wing fairings had been modified to include internal metal reinforcing rods. In addition the stewards found that six of the eight holes in the front wing had been sealed. The remaining two holes were found to have had helicoil inserts and chamfers made and that the front flap and gurney LH 220 has a filler layer added and chamfer made.

The team argued that these changes were made as a result of repairs and that they offered no competitive advantage, however, they were deemed to be in breach of Article 3.1 of 2014/2015 FIA Formula E Technical Regulations and the exclusion was made.

Audi Sport ABT has decided not to appeal the decision.

The decision means that Jerome D’Ambrosio is now the winner of the race and Nelson Piquet Jr is now in the lead of the championship, 10 points ahead of di Grassi.

So, after all that, here are the modified results, etc:

1. Jerome D’Ambrosio, Dragon Racing, 48:26.566
2. Sébastien Buemi, e.dams-Renault, +2.433s
3. Loïc Duval, Dragon Racing, +3.508s
4. Nelson Piquet Jr, NEXTEV TCR, +3.975s
5. Nick Heidfeld, Venturi, +13.046s
6. Stéphane Sarrazin, Venturi, +13.335s
7. Jean-Eric Vergne, Andretti, +13.678s
8. Sam Bird, Virgin Racing, +14.055s
9. Vitantonio Liuzzi, Trulli, +15.636s
10. Nicolas Prost, e.dams-Renault, +16.602s
11. Antonio Felix da Costa, Amlin Aguri, +16.797s
12. Jaime Alguersuari, Virgin Racing, +20.594s
13. Scott Speed, Andretti, +21.149s
14. Daniel Abt, Audi Sport ABT, +23.668s
15. Charles Pic, NEXTEV TCR, +25.491s
16. Salvador Duran, Amlin Aguri, +44.137s
17. Bruno Senna, Mahindra Racing, +46.257s
18. Karun Chandhok, Mahindra Racing, +52.703s
19. Jarno Trulli, Trulli, +2 laps
EXC Lucas di Grassi, Audi Sport ABT

Driver Standings
Nelson Piquet Jr – 103
Sébastien Buemi – 101
Lucas di Grassi – 93
Nicolas Prost – 78
Jerome D’Ambrosio – 77
Sam Bird – 68
Antonio Felix da Costa – 45
Jean-Eric Vergne – 40
Jaime Alguersuari – 30
Bruno Senna – 28

Team Standings
e.dams-Renault – 179
Dragon Racing – 116
Audi Sport ABT – 115
NEXTEV TCR – 107
Virgin Racing – 98
Andretti – 88
Amlin Aguri – 48
Mahindra Racing – 46
Venturi – 34
Trulli – 17

Formula E: Di Grassi wins on ABT’s home turf

23/05/2015 By Clive Couldwell in Formula E Tags: Grassi, Jerome D’Ambrosio, Lucas di Grassi, Nelson Piquet Jr Leave a comment

Brazilian driver Lucas di Grassi took a dominant win in the first ever DHL Berlin ePrix. This was his second win of the season, the first having come in Beijing on 13 September last year, at the inaugural Formula E race. This time, the victory came at the home race for his team, Audi Sport ABT. Behind di Grassi came Jerome D’Ambrosio in second place, the Belgian thus securing his first podium of the season. Third was the Monaco ePrix winner, Sebastien Buemi; the Swiss driver thus making it four top-three finishes.

Thanks to today’s victory, di Grassi consolidates his lead in the drivers’ classification, extending it to 17 points over Nelson Piquet Jr, who finished fifth. Nelsinho scored the 10 points that come with that position, plus the two that go with taking the Visa Fastest Lap Trophy. In the teams’ classification, Audi Sport ABT has closed the gap to e.dams-Renault down to 35 points (140 to 175.) Dragon Racing now moves up into third place: the 30 points picked up by D’Ambrosio and Loic Duval (fourth) means that in one go, the team moves ahead of Virgin Racing and NEXTEV TCR.

Just as in Monaco, here too, in the iconic setting of Tempelhof airport, a large enthusiastic and inquisitive crowd turned up to see the first race for electric single-seaters to be held in Germany – 21,000 of them attending the event, which ended with a concert from DJ Felix Jaehn, currently topping the German charts.

Qualifying threw up a big surprise, with Jarno Trulli securing an unexpected, but well deserved pole position. Running in the first group, the Italian made himself at home in the seat destined for the fastest driver in the FIA garage and stayed there right to the end, when it was time for the media interviews. At the start, Jarno managed to keep ahead of di Grassi, but the Brazilian pounced when the Italian made a mistake at the second corner and took the lead. From then on, the Audi Sport ABT driver had a pretty solitary race. Trulli, who was already beginning to struggle with energy management, kept everyone behind him for the first five laps, before dropping back, but in the meantime, Lucas had already built up a lead of around 10 seconds, which meant he was able to manage the race from then on.

On lap 10, Buemi was second, with Nick Heidfeld and D’Ambrosio behind him. By lap 17, 18 drivers had pitted to change cars: only the NEXTEV TCR pair stayed out for one further lap. After the run of stops, di Grassi still had a comfortable lead, while D’Ambrosio managed to get past Buemi in the pits, to move up to second.

2014/2015 FIA Formula E Championship. Jarno Trulli (ITA)/Trulli Racing - Spark-Renault SRT_01E and Alain Prost. Formula E Race. Berlin e-Prix, Berlin, Germany, Europe. Saturday 23 May 2015 Photo: Adam Warner/LAT/Formula E ref: Digital Image _L5R8285

Jarno Trulli, Trulli Racing – Spark-Renault (right) and Alain Prost (left).

The Swiss had to focus more on fending off Heidfeld than on attacking D’Ambrosio, at least up until the German Venturi team driver had to slow the pace. The final laps saw the top three manage the situation easily enough, while behind them Piquet was fighting back, with his usual ability to be a protagonist in the closing stages, thanks to his skill in managing the remaining energy in the best way possible. The Brazilian had struggled in qualifying (13th on the grid) but managed to secure a fifth place that means he is still in the hunt for the title.

While he was first past the chequered flag, di Grassi was last to come back to the pits, because his car stopped on track with a technical problem: it meant he had to wait just a little bit longer before being greeted by his team as they celebrated this important win.

The inaugural Formula E season is now on the home straight. After the German capital, it will be the turn of the Russian one, which hosts the Moscow ePrix on 6 June, against the backdrop of the walls of the Kremlin itself.

FIA Formula E Championship – DHL Berlin ePrix (Rd 8) – Race results:

1. Lucas di Grassi, Audi Sport ABT, 48:18.890
2. Jerome D’Ambrosio, Dragon Racing, +7.586s
3. Sébastien Buemi, e.dams-Renault, +10.019s
4. Loïc Duval, Dragon Racing, +11.094s
5. Nelson Piquet Jr, NEXTEV TCR, +11.561s
6. Nick Heidfeld, Venturi, +20.632s
7. Stéphane Sarrazin, Venturi, +20.921s
8. Jean-Eric Vergne, Andretti, ++21.264s
9. Sam Bird, Virgin Racing, +21.641s
10. Vitantonio Liuzzi, Trulli, +23.222s
11. Nicolas Prost, e.dams-Renault, +24.188s
12. Antonio Felix da Costa, Amlin Aguri, +24.833s
13. Jaime Alguersuari, Virgin Racing, +28.180s
14. Scott Speed, Andretti, +28.735s
15. Daniel Abt, Audi Sport ABT, +31.274s
16. Charles Pic, NEXTEV TCR, +33.077s
17. Salvador Duran, Amlin Aguri, +51.743s
18. Bruno Senna, Mahindra Racing, +53.843s
19. Karun Chandhok, Mahindra Racing, +1:00.289s
20. Jarno Trulli, Trulli, +2 laps

Driver Standings
Lucas di Grassi – 118
Nelson Piquet Jr – 101
Sébastien Buemi – 98
Nicolas Prost – 77
Jerome D’Ambrosio – 70
Sam Bird – 66
Antonio Felix da Costa – 45
Jean-Eric Vergne – 34
Jaime Alguersuari – 30
Bruno Senna – 28

Team Standings
e.dams-Renault – 175
Audi Sport ABT – 140
Dragon Racing – 106
NEXTEV TCR – 105
Virgin Racing – 96
Andretti – 86
Amlin Aguri – 48
Mahindra Racing – 46
Venturi – 30
Trulli – 16

Help shape the future of F1

23/05/2015 By Clive Couldwell in Formula One Leave a comment

Monte Carlo, Monaco.

The Grand Prix Drivers’ Association (GPDA) wants to know more about you and what you think about the sport. Will be nice to see how far this goes. It’s a noble idea anyway. What have we got to lose.

Here’s the survey.

CLIVE COULDWELL: Formula One as it is…

A slightly different take on the sport

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BREAKING: Drama in Berlin as Di Grassi excluded from ePrix

Formula E: Di Grassi wins on ABT’s home turf

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