Mark Webber looks back at Brazil ’11
Mark Webber talks about his victory in Brazil – the start, the middle phase, and those three “purple” laps at the end.
All photographs copyright Sutton Images
Mark Webber talks about his victory in Brazil – the start, the middle phase, and those three “purple” laps at the end.
All photographs copyright Sutton Images
A Memorial Service for Sheridan Thynne, the former Mini racer, WilliamsF1 Director and hill-climb Team Manager, will take place at St Andrews Church, South Stoke, Oxfordshire, at 2:30pm on Monday, December 5. Sheridan’s family have asked for no flowers; instead, they suggest that donations could be made to the charity, Help for Heroes. (Piers Thynne, one of Sheridan’s four children, served two terms in Iraq before joining McLaren F1.)
I thought it a great shame that the Macau Grand Prix – one of the best single-seater events on the international calendar – was not given more space and time on the popular media platforms in Europe and North America. I was thus delighted to be able to talk to the winner of the 2011 race, Daniel Juncadella, on last Wednesday’s The Flying Lap – and also to one of the key pace-setters – Valtteri Bottas. Fresh from a scintillating test for AT&T Williams in Abu Dhabi, Valtteri is a Finn with a Future. A bright future. Don’t be surprised to see him in a Williams in 2012.
Click on the link below to watch Episode 46 of The Flying Lap.
I’ve been to a fair few Springfield annual presentation evenings but you never get used to the atmosphere there: young kids who might otherwise be on the streets are pursuing their dreams, be they in sport, IT or some particular skill. F1 has supported the Springfield Club since 1961, when Graham Hill decided to do what he could to help – and then persuaded his peers to do likewise. Last night, Nov 21, the Club’s President (Sir Jackie Stewart), its Chairman (Paul Stewart) and some very special guests (Damon Hill, Bette Hill) paid tribute not only to some of the great motor racing – and non-racing – people who have supported the Springfield Club over the year but also to the members – to the kids who make it what it is.
Sheridan, Nigel and Ann pictured at Monza, 1992 – photo courtesy of SuttonImages
The F1 teams generally downplay the lap times at the Young Driver tests – partly because they don’t want to reveal too much about the spec of the cars they’re running and partly because they don’t want to be too hard on the driver who happens to be slower. The typical F1 team report reads “ Although so-and-so is very young, and drove the car for the first time on a proper race track, he gave us mature and useful feedback and we completed everything on the proramme”, etc, etc.
It’s a shame, of course, that the three days of Young Driver tests were not televised because there were some very talented guys having their first look at F1; and, as well, we saw several teams trying 2012-spec exhaust layouts and Pirelli running some new, squarer-shouldered tyres (and some new compounds). I mention the TV element only because the test was bound by the usual TV rights restrictions…and yet not even the rights holders bothered to film it. That, in my opinion, is a big opportunity lost. A 30-minute highlight package at the end of each day’s running would have reached a big audience – particularly with the lack of testing these days.
Conclusions? I’ve put together the adjoining results list so that we can make some sense of what took place. Bear in mind that the cars were probably in different specs on all three days and that there were both “long runs” and “short runs” and plenty of different tyres from which to choose.
Nonetheless, Jean-Eric Vergne’s 1min 38.917sec lap on Thursday is a quick lap by any standards – a time that would have put him fifth on the grid only four days before, ahead of both Ferraris and only fractionally slower than Mark Webber (1min 38.858sec.). Red Bull’s Head of Race Engineering, Ian Morgan, commented dryly: “This was the hottest day so far, with track temperatures around 55deg C” (the track would have been slower than in qualifying, in other words). “And it was a frustrating day because we had a run of niggling problems in the afternoon that prevented us getting through the tyre programme. Jean-Eric didn’t put a foot wrong throughout the test and he was able to put in a lap time whenever we needed it…”
That’s very impressive, I’d say – so it will be very interesting to see what Red Bull do with “JEV” from here on in. He’ll be in the Toro Rosso again for FP1 in Brazil – but his stock would have risen considerably since that last, disappointing WSR race in Barcelona.
Sam Bird also looked good in the Mercedes, lapping within half a second of Jules Bianchi’s Ferrari – or about 50 per cent closer than Michael Schumacher got to Felipe Massa in Abu Dhabi qualifying. Sam was also very near Michael’s Q1 time, which I think also says quite a lot. (I’ve selected comparative times based on what the Young Drivers would have been looking at, given the variables of the three day test and the different weather conditions.)
Other points of note:
Abu Dhabi Young Driver Tests – November 15, 16 and 17
Red Bull Racing
Jean-Eric Vergne 1min 38.917sec (3 days)
Sebastian Vettel’s pole lap: 1min 38.481sec
Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro
Jules Bianchi 1min 40.279sec (3 days)
Felipe Massa’s Q2 time: 1min 39.623sec
Mercedes Grand Prix
Sam Bird 1min 40.897sec (3 days)
Michael Schumacher’s Q3 time: 1min 40.662sec
Vodafone McLaren Mercedes
Oliver Turvey 1min 41.513sec (2 days)
Gary Paffett 1min 41.756sec (2 days)
Jenson Button’s Q1 time: 1min 40.227sec
Sahara Force India
Max Chilton 1min 41.575sec (2 days)
Johnny Jecotto Jnr 1min 42.873sec (1 day)
Paul di Resta’s Q1 time: 1min 41.064sec
Sauber
Esteban Gutierrez 1min 42.049sec (2 days)
Fabio Leimer 1min 42.331sec (1 day)
Kamui Kobayashi’s Q1 time: 1min 41.613sec
Lotus Renault Grand Prix
Rob Wickens 1min 42.217sec (1 day)
Kevin Korjas 1min 43.776sec (1 day)
Jan Charous 1min 44.470sec (1 day)
Bruno Senna’s Q1 time: 1min 41.391sec
Romain Grosjean’s FP1 time: 1min 42.685sec
AT&T Williams
Valtteri Bottas 1min 42.367sec (2 days)
Mirko Bortolotti 1min 43.277sec (1 day)
Pastor Maldonado’s Q1 time: 1min 42.258sec
Scuderia Toro Rosso
Kevin Ceccon 1min 43.686sec (2 days)
Stefano Coletti 1min 44.545sec (2 days)
Sebastien Buemi’s Q1 time: 1min 41.737sec
Jean-Eric Vergne’s FP1 time: 1min 42.633sec
Team Lotus
Luiz Razia 1min 43.944sec (1 day)
Rodolfo Gonzalez 1min 44.022sec (1 day)
Alexander Rossi 1min 44.283sec (1 day)
Heikki Kovalainen’s Q1 time: 1min 42.979sec
Hispania Racing Team
Dani Clos 1min 45.278sec (1 day)
Nathaneal Berthon 1min 45.839sec (1.1 days)
Jan Charous 1min 46.644sec (1 day)
Daniel Ricciardo’s Q1 time: 1min 44.641sec
Marussia Virgin
Rob Wickens 1min 45.934sec (1 day)
Charles Pic 1min 46.348sec (3 days)
Adrian Quaife-Hobbs 1min 47.292sec (1 day)
Timo Glock’s Q1 time: 1min 44.515sec
Rob Wickens’ FP1 time: 1min 48.551sec