Marco Melandri turned back the clock on Saturday, leaving the field in his wake at the Phillip Island Circuit.
A colder than expected track temperature, along with regular gusts of wind rolling in from the Bass strait, ensured that maintaining a smooth rhythm was nigh on impossible for the riders.
The Italian produced a brilliant tactical performance. Content enough to sit behind his rivals in the first half of the race and managing his machine to contend with the testing track conditions, enabling him to produce an irresistible charge in the closing laps whilst the others floundered. The icing on the cake being a perfectly executed block pass through the high speed Doohan corner and under heavy braking into the Southern loop, on Tom Sykes during the penultimate lap.
A new season, with a raft of new regulations, filled riders and spectators with optimism that the new season would be more competitive than the last. The bright green KRT machine of Sykes on pole threatened to suggest otherwise.
The Yorkshireman made a brilliant start as the lights went out, hooking up the start and pulling a relatively healthy lead out to the rest of the field in the opening laps. A solid practice day on Friday had been backed up by a stunning performance in Qualifying on Saturday morning. The warning signs for the rest could not have been more ominous.
Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) led the chase behind, with the triple world champion in no mood to go down without a fight. Following in hot pursuit as always, were the two factory Aruba.it Ducati bikes of Melandri and Chaz Davies. The trio would dice with each other throughout the 22 laps, gradually closing the lead to Sykes.
The cold temperatures additionally brought another problem for the teams – tyre wear.
It was a case of what might have been for Rea as late in the race he was forced to drop back and out of contention of the podium battle. He would eventually finish behind Spanish rider Xavi Fores (Barni Racing Ducati) in fifth place. After the race, a quick look at his rear tyre explained the problem. The slick rubber had been worn almost through to the carcass. However, Rea’s problems were not as evident with the remaining podium contenders as the factory Ducati rider (Davies) and the privateer machine of Fores engaged in a gripping battle, with both riders exchanging places at almost every corner. Davies emerging with the bragging rights after shutting out his rival at the bottom of the infamous Lukey Heights corner.
Behind the top five there was action to be found in abundance. The two Pata-Yamaha team-mates, Alex Lowes and Michael van der Mark, were locked in thrilling race long duel. Although in the closing stages, the latter rider was forced to drop behind and conserve what little rubber was still attached to his rear tyre, eventually finishing in P9. In contrast, Lowes managed to hold on to sixth place suffering noticeably less tyre wear than most of the competition. His smooth riding style, which has helped him to back-to-back Suzuka 8 hour wins a clear factor.
The the Red Bull Honda team, the opening race on Saturday confirmed that the team has made an incredible amount of progress since 2017. Leon Camier finished an eventful race in seventh place – and 21 seconds behind the winning time of Melandri. The veteran British rider found himself locked in a brilliant scrap early in the race with Eugene Laverty (Milwaukee Aprilia), Loris Baz (Gulf Althea BMW), Leandro Mercado (Oretac Racing Kawasaki) and Jordi Torres (MV Agusta). The latter unfortunately crashing out with only 3 laps left in the race, but both he and his team can take considerable encouragement with the pace and reliability shown across the weekend.
It was a solid day for Laverty, however. The Irishman had been the bolt from the blue earlier in the day, by qualifying on the front row of the grid in second place. Whilst it was inevitable that the Aprilia dropped back during the race, the former MotoGP rider did not surrender any places without a fight. Whilst the TV cameras may have been more interested in the battle for the podium, the dicing between Laverty, Lowes and Camier were not for the faint hearted. The raw pace is there to make Laverty competitive this season, of that there is no doubt.
But the day undoubtedly belonged to Marco Melandri. The Ducati man had looked competitive since the first practice session on Friday morning. A front row start and stunning charge ensured he could not be denied the first blood of the 2018 season. Additionally, this win puts the Italian on 21 victories in the World Superbike class – equal to that of his illustrious compatirot: multiple Grand Prix race winner and double Superbike World Champion, Max Biaggi.
Ferrari and McLaren have unveiled their 2018 cars in the usual array of colour, glitz and glamour.
Ferrari, who retain Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen as a driver line up, have gone for their familiar colour scheme of largely red for their SF71H, with white appearing on their sleek gearbox cover.
McLaren meanwhile remain in papaya orange, although their secondary colour has changed from black to blue with seemingly little reference to their change in engine suppliers
The Scuderia will be hoping to go one better than last season when Vettel was runner up to Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton in the race for the championship.
The new Prancing Horse features subtle aerodynamic differences around the rear of the car, with a longer wheelbase and larger, more aggressive extra pieces around the sidepods.
McLaren have undergone much wider aerodynamic and chassis changes to incorporate the Renault Power Unit after switching from Honda for this season, as Technical Director Tim Goss explains.
“There are two families of engine out there; the Mercedes and Honda concept, with the compressor at the front of the engine, turbine at the back, MGU-H sat in the vee; and the Ferrari and Renault approach, where the turbo-charger is at the back of the engine, and the MGU-H sits forwards into the vee.
McLaren Media
“ I’m actually quite a big fan of the Renault approach. Making the switch had a big impact on the installation of the engine. The advantage of the Renault layout means that we can push the engine forwards, but then you have the compressor at the back of the engine, so you’ve got to get the outlet pipes forward without impacting the packaging.
“We had to redesign the back of the chassis, the gearbox bell-housing area, the rear suspension, and the cooling layout. That was two weeks of intense effort to get right. So now we’ve got a really tidy packaging solution; the gearbox and rear suspension designers did an unbelievable job to redesign everything.”
With the Renault Power Unit upwards of a second per lap faster than Honda last year, McLaren expect their car to challenge for points and possible podiums.
Mercedes has revealed the W09 EQ Power+, the team’s new car for the 2018 F1 season, at a special launch event at Silverstone.
The new Silver Arrow carried out its first series of laps on Thursday morning with Valtteri Bottas at the wheel, before being given an official presentation later in the day. Defending world champion Lewis Hamilton then took to the track for his first taste of the car he hopes will take him to a fifth drivers’ crown this year.
Steve Etherington/Mercedes AMG F1
Like most of its rivals for this season, the W09 isn’t much of a departure from last year’s model. It has retained the same ultra-long wheelbase that helped the W08 to dominance at 2017’s high-speed circuits, and also sports a conventionally-rounded nose cap—as yet, the only such design on this year’s grid.
However, the W09 also features plenty of less obvious refinements meant to address its predecessor’s peaky performance.
As well as an increase in rake similar to the Red Bull philosophy, the W09 also features an all-new suspension design, and what Hamilton described as “a different aerodynamic characteristic” for the floor, both aimed at improving the car’s ride.
Steve Etherington/Mercedes AMG F1
Speaking of the new car, Mercedes technical director James Allison said: “Across the board, [the W09] is more elegant than last year.
“Last year’s regulations were brand new and we weren’t quite sure which direction they would take us in.
“This year, being a little more confident of what we’re aiming for, we’ve been able to commit more fully to certain concepts. So we have the packaging much tighter and have taken things to more of an extreme.”
McLaren is pushing to introduce a “substantial” upgrade package for the MCL33’s race debut in Melbourne, although the initial design to be revealed this week will not differ much from last year’s challenger.
As seems to be the trend for 2018, McLaren has hinted that the launch and test specification for its new chassis will be more of a close evolution than a radical departure from last year’s MCL32, allowing the team to focus on the aerodynamic impact of the Halo and new engine cover regulations in early testing.
But once those initial assessments are complete, the team’s testing programme will turn towards evaluating a raft of new parts specifically for March’s Australian Grand Prix.
Glenn Dunbar/McLaren
McLaren’s aero chief Peter Prodromou told Autosport that fans “can expect something quite similar conceptually” to the MCL32 at Friday’s team launch and during testing:
“We very much hope and expect that the car will feel from the off quite similar to how it felt at the end of last year and perform quite similarly,” Prodromou explained. “Hopefully we’ve taken a step forwards and then we will try to do something a bit more substantial for Melbourne.
“That is where the major focus has been and still is—to try to deliver a decent upgrade both aerodynamically and mechanically and to put our best foot forward for Melbourne.”
Trident Motorsport will field an all-Haas junior F2 lineup in 2018, with Arjun Maini graduating from GP3 to partner Santino Ferrucci.
Zak Mauger/FIA Formula 2
Maini finished ninth in the standings in his first full GP3 campaign last year, taking his first series win at the sprint race in Spain and a further podium in Abu Dhabi. He was signed to the Haas F1 junior ranks as the team’s test and development driver in May 2017.
At F2’s post-season test in Abu Dhabi, Maini drove for both Trident and Russian Time.
“I’m very excited to be competing in the FIA Formula 2 championship,” Maini said. “I felt we were very competitive during the post-season test and given the series is using all-new cars for the coming season, I’m quite excited for the year ahead.
“Trident is a very strong team and I’m sure if we work hard we’ll be in for some strong results during the course of the season.”
Zak Mauger/FIA Formula 2
Maini’s new teammate Ferrucci will be contesting his first full F2 season in 2018. The 19-year-old American joined Trident for the final five races of 2017 after a mid-season move up from GP3, and scored points at Hungary and Spa.
Trident team owner Maurizio Salvadori praised Ferrucci and Maini as “two undoubtably valuable prospects who have all that it takes to be among the future stars of motorsports for the years to come.
“It is certainly not by chance that [Haas F1] selected them to join their junior development programme.”
Check out the newest video from Mobil 1 The Grid in which Max Verstappen reviews his 2017 season, as he looks ahead to the challenge of battling Lewis Hamilton for the title.
Renault has revealed its plans for the forthcoming Formula 1 season at a launch event focused on unveiling the team’s 2018 challenger.
The RS18—besides the mandatory addition of the Halo—features several small aerodynamic evolutions from its predecessor, including a slimmer nose section and much tighter packaging around the rear of the engine.
The team’s livery has also been tweaked for 2018, with Renault’s traditional yellow featuring more sparingly along the leading edges of the car.
Renault Sport Formula One Team
Speaking about Renault’s 2018 goals, technical chief Bob Bell highlighted improved reliability as one of the marque’s key targets:
“We need a strong reliability record,” Bell said. “That’s something we need to focus on. We need the car as reliable as we can make it.
“To improve reliability, we have to accept nothing less than perfection. Anything that ends up on the car needs to be designed and built to the highest standard; checked and rechecked as fit for purpose.
“All the issues that blighted us last year need to be eradicated by a fresh approach. That’s a huge challenge…and it’s the toughest task we face.”
Renault engine chief Remi Taffin echoed Bell, stating that having a reliable car will be the team’s “first priority”, especially with teams limited to just three power units per car in 2018.
Renault Sport Formula One Team
As well as revealing its new car, Renault also announced as part of its season launch an updated Renault Sport Academy driver lineup.
With the team’s previous third driver Sergey Sirotkin moving on to a race seat at Williams, Renault has promoted British-Korean junior Jack Aitken to the vacant reserve driver role. The 22-year-old, who has been part of the RSA since 2016, will combine his expanded Renault role this year with a maiden F2 campaign with ART GP.
Aitken will be joined in Renault’s F1 stable by fellow F2 driver Artem Markelov. The 23-year-old Russian, who finished runner-up to Charles Leclerc in last year’s F2 championship, has been named Renault’s 2018 test and development driver.
Eleanor Roosevelt once said that the future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams. If there is one team that has had to dig deep to keep their F1 dream alive, it is the Sauber team. That belief and dream came to beautiful fruition with the launch of their C37 2018 F1 challenger… alongside an old friend; Alfa Romeo.
Sauber have had a tumultuous few years which have been well documented, however the new ownership combined with the re-entry of Alfa into F1 created an air of optimism which took center-stage today with the unveiling of the Halo-ed C37.
The Quadrifoglio features proudly on the side of the dark candy apple and white car, which is being rated as one of the most striking liveries of the 2018 cars revealed thus far. Following suit with the other teams, the halo has been co-ordinated to look less conspicuous on the car and hopefully not be as distracting as the prototype seen in 2017.
The C37 will have 2018 Ferrari power, a move that is welcomed by both drivers. Marcus Ericsson begins another season with the Swiss based outfit and will drive alongside the talented and highly rated Charles Leclerc.
While more specific technical details are yet to be revealed, team Principal, Fred Vasseur has gone on record to say that the team is taking a new technical direction in 2018, featured a new aerodynamic concept that has been months in the making. Fans will recall that the team all but stopped work on the C36 in order to focus on the C37 and will officially roll out at the Circuit de Catalunya tests later this month.
The winglets on the car are delicate, which seems to be the trend with the cars revealed to date and significant changes to the side-pod areas. Sauber have struggled on aerodynamic intensive tracks and hope the changes will bring about an improvement.
The team are looking forward to improving on their performance and “catching up” with the field utilising the combination of experience and youth with their drivers and the sweeping changes at Hinwil, that has now lead to a close working relationship with the Ferrari team.
Sauber have been the great F1 dream, a single dream made good. 2018 may just bring about the next chapter in their extraordinary story.
In 1955 The Grand Prix held at Le Mans marked a water shed moment in motor sport. In particular the Mercedes team featuring Juan Manuel Fangio and Stirling Moss. Pierre Levegh’s also in the Silver arrows as a factory driver crashed early in the race killing approximately 80 spectators. And injuring over 100 more.
This incident is known as motor sports darkish day. Motor racing and formula1 would never be the same again. In the immediate aftermath of the race The Grand Prix in Germany, Switzerland and Spain were all cancelled. Motor racing has to this day never returned to Switzerland.
After the last race in Monza Italy. Mercedes announced it’s withdrawal from motor racing. They would not return for almost 40 years.
Today’s tracks are a much safer environment to race in. Gone are the hay bales, replaced by Steal barriers and tyre walls that loop the tracks. Catch fences in the spectator zones protect the crowds from most incidents.
These are all in my opinion much needed safety measures. But not all improvement to race tracks are necessary. In my view modern circuits like Bahrain have used huge tarmac run off areas. These may be great for cutting down speed but does it punish a driver enough for an error?
Do we want a driver to come off and then straight back into the action with not even a time loss disadvantage? Or do we want to see them struggle back onto the track? That was the case with gravel traps, bigger errors lead to beaching and non finishing.
I know what I’d rather.
Grass is another option. But I’m disregarding this as high speed cars and wet grass are not a good mix.
We all know that gravel traps do work. Yes they have in the past flipped cars over. But that is a rare occurrence, and the modern formula 1 cars are more than capable of withstanding that, aren’t they? The drivers monocoque (French for single cell) and higher sides and the addition of Halo should be more than capable of keeping drivers safe.
We can never sit back on excuse the pun on our Laurels as regards driver and spectator safety. New ideas and innovations come along. Abrasive Tarmac surfaces could be the answer. But once again it raises the question does it punish the driver enough?
Luckily there have been very few incidents regarding spectators at the top levels of Motorsport Dario Franchitti’s career ending accident – at the Indy Grand Prix of Houston comes to mind. The catch fence did it’s job to a greater extent. 13 people in the crowd where injured by flying debris. But no one was killed
In the future maybe something better than fencing will come along. Maybe it something that won’t impair the view quite as much.
As they say at all the circuits as a disclaimer. Motorsport is dangerousness and you may get injured. Or I have even seen signs stating risk of death!
One last thing. A big thank you to all the marshals, from all us fans. Without you all, we wouldn’t have such safe racing.
On Sunday, Thierry and Nicolas had a good gap and just three stages to clear before they could take their first Swedish victory. The gap to Craig stood at just under 23 seconds and that meant he’d be able to just manage his pace.
The first stage of the day, Likenäs, saw another stage victory for Ott Tanak, with Lappi second fastest and Jari-Matti third. This allowed Lappi to take fifth place from Mads. Meantime, Craig closed a few seconds down on the leader and the gap was now 14 seconds. Rejoining after his troubles after yesterday, Kris spun again after clipping the inside of a snowbank.
The same stage was run later and this time Lappi took the stage victory, with Thierry second fastest and Craig, having made some changes to his notes with Scott was third, and with that increasing the gap over Andreas on the overall leaderboard a further three seconds to almost fifteen seconds. After setting such a good time, Lappi had now closed to just three seconds of Hayden! Could he snatch fourth on the last stage?
We had a bit of a wait for the last stage, which was set to run just after midday. The re-run of Torsby as the power stage saw Lappi once more at the top, with Seb, Andreas, Thierry and Ott completing the top five in the stage and taking the points for those positions.
Well, we had or top three overall and taking his and Hyundai’s first Swedish victory was Thierry, with Craig Breen finishing second after a superb drive to second, his best result yet! Andreas made it a Hyundai 1-3 double podium! Not only that, but Thierry took the lead in the driver’s championship and Hyundai also now lead the manufacturers championship for the first time ever.
Overall Classification- Rally Sweden
Thierry Neuville / Nicolas Gilsoul (Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC) 2:52:13.1
Craig Breen / Scott Martin (Citroen C3 WRC) +19.8
Andreas Mikkelsen / Anders Jaeger (Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC) +28.3
Esapekka Lapp / Janne Ferme (Toyota Yaris WRC) +45.8
Hayden Paddon / Sebastian Marshall (Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC) +54.4
Let’s hear from the drivers starting with the top three.
Thierry Neuville
“An incredible result! We had a disappointing start to the season in Monte-Carlo, but we didn’t let that get us down. We kept focused and targeted a strong result here in Sweden. We knew the competition would be tough for the win but we came here with the objective to bounce back, and we did that perfectly. We didn’t expect to take the lead so early in the weekend, so we have had to be clever to defend the gap at times, and then increase it when we could. I felt we deserved the win last year, but perhaps even more so this weekend. I was never going to push in the Power Stage because the victory meant too much to risk, so to come away with two extra points is great. We’re now leading the championship, so our 2018 campaign is back on track. Thanks to everyone in the team. We have many people working tirelessly every day behind the scenes to give us a competitive car, one with which we can fight for victories like this. This win is for all of them; it’s been a fantastic weekend for us.”
2018 FIA World Rally Championship Round 02, Rally Sweden 15-18 February 2018 Thierry Neuville, Nicolas Gilsoul, Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC Photographer: Austral Worldwide copyright: Hyundai Motorsport GmbH
Craig Breen
“I’m absolutely on top of the world! It has been an incredible weekend. I have always really enjoyed this rally in the past, but I have to say that I surprised myself this weekend in that I was able to fight at the front throughout the race, without making any mistakes. I used to think that quick rallies weren’t suited to me, but that doesn’t seem to be the case anymore. In any event, my C3 WRC was perfect here and it’s great to secure this result for the team – the guys have worked really hard for this.”
Craig and Paul scored their best ever result finishing second in Sweden. Photo credit Citroen Racing
Andreas Mikkelsen
“It is a fantastic feeling to be standing on the podium for the first time with Hyundai Motorsport. We have had a pretty solid weekend and enjoyed a clean final morning. I wanted to give a push in the Power Stage but it’s always a fine line as we definitely didn’t want to risk our podium. In the end, we took three points and third place overall, which is very encouraging. More than that, it has been an excellent weekend for the team as a whole, and our congratulations go to Thierry and Nicolas on a tremendous result. It’s wonderful to be able to share in this success, and to see the team at the top of the championship, even at this early stage in the season.”
Here’s the rest of the drivers.
Toyota Gazoo WRT
Jari-Matti Latvala
“It has been a very hard weekend for me. We just lost so much time on the first day with our high starting position in the fresh snow and the heavy ruts. We changed the transmission for the final day and this improved the feeling compared to yesterday. The team did a very good job and the car was handling very well. It is both quick and reliable and that is important.”
Ott Tänak
“This has been a tough weekend. On Friday we faced some bad conditions and couldn’t have done much more. On Saturday our road position was slightly better, the pace was better as a result and we could win quite a few stages. Then today when the conditions were in our favour we could do some more good times. This was my first rally in the Toyota Yaris WRC with a gravel-style setup and we have learned a lot of things.”
Esapekka Lappi
“To get the Power Stage win and gain two places today has been very good. I’m really happy for the team as well: at least we got some kind of good result from this weekend. It means I’m not so disappointed anymore about what happened to me on Friday. It’s so easy to make a mistake here. Overall the whole rally was quite strong. I wasn’t expecting this kind of speed from my side, so I’m really looking forward to coming back here next year.”
Esapekka Lappi, Toyota Gazoo WRT. Photo credit Toyota
Hyundai Motorsport
Hayden Paddon
“An annoying end to what had been a generally positive weekend for us. It was just a small mistake in the Power Stage, which stalled the car and lost us too much time to defend our fourth place. It is what it is. We’re not in the championship hunt this season so whether it’s fourth or fifth doesn’t really matter greatly. We have plenty of positives to take away from the event and I am looking forward to continuing this trend in my next WRC event in Portugal. I’m happy to have been part of this competitive rally for the team and I can’t wait to get back behind the wheel.”
Citroen Abu Dhabi WRT
Mads Østberg
“I’m delighted with my return to the team. I wasn’t expecting to be able to fight for such a good position with the limited amount of miles we covered in testing. I hope that the team is pleased with what we have done with this first experience together. I know that with more time in the car, I can be even more competitive with the C3 WRC. In any case, I would love to drive it again soon!”
Kris Meeke
“It was a difficult rally for us. With our less than ideal position in the running order on Friday, I had trouble finding any confidence, which meant that we ended up being one of the first on the road on Saturday. I was nonetheless working hard to secure the point for tenth place when we nosed into a snow bank at low speed and damaged the turbo. It was really unlucky. I’m determined to bounce back, starting in Mexico. Out of the next four rallies, I have already won three of them and I was leading in Corsica last year as well.”
M-Sport Ford WRT
Teemu Suninen
“It’s been a difficult rally, but we’ve been improving a lot and learning a lot about how to drive these cars on this surface – because it’s quite different from the R5 cars. The target before the rally was to be somewhere between fifth and eighth, and we’re eighth so it’s okay. But of course, I was hoping for a bit more. We just need to improve the driving and learn more about how to be fast in these conditions.”
FIA WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP 2018 -WRC Sweden (SWE) – WRC 15/02/2018 to 18/02/2018 – PHOTO : @World
Sébastien Ogier
“For years now, I have been fighting for different rules regarding the starting order. In the end, this is a World Championship and everyone tries to do their best and take every chance that there is to win points.
“At least on this stage [the Power Stage] we had the chance to score some points. I would have preferred to have come here with a realistic chance of fighting for the win or even a podium, but that was not possible from the beginning of this weekend.”
Elfyn Evans
“It’s not been the easiest of weekends. It’s probably fair to say that we were struggling for some pace through the early stages, but then when the puncture set us back we didn’t have any chance with the road position. It’s certainly not the weekend we wanted, so we just need to put it behind us and look forward to Mexico.”
Conclusion.
Well, what an amazing rally we were treated to! A maiden victory for Thierry and Hyundai in Sweden, plus Craig Breen’s best ever result with second place. Also, Esapekka making up for his slip in Monte’s last stage with a very good drive to fourth! It was great to see Hayden out there for the first time this year.
We’ve now got a break with Rally Mexico on the first weekend of March where Thierry and Seb will continue to battle. Will it just be them, or can Kris produce a drive like last year and bring himself into a title fight?
2018 FIA World Rally Championship Round 02, Rally Sweden 15-18 February 2018 Thierry Neuville, Nicolas Gilsoul, Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC Photographer: Austral Worldwide copyright: Hyundai Motorsport GmbH
