Rallye de Portugal Review 2017

The World Rally Championship arrived in Portugal, the first European gravel that these new cars would be unleashed on in competition.

There would be nineteen stages over the four days.

Just a reminder of the schedule for you.

THURSDAY 18 MAY

7.30am: Shakedown (Paredes)

6.10pm: Start (Guimaraes)

7.03pm: SS1 – Lousada (3.36km)

8.00pm: Parc ferme (Exponor)

FRIDAY 19 MAY

8.40am: Service A (Exponor – 19 min)

10.09am: SS2 – Viana do Castelo 1 (26.70km)

11.06am: SS3 – Caminha 1 (18.10km)

11.46am: SS4 – Ponte de Lima 1 (27.46km)

2.25pm: Service B (Exponor – 34 mins)

4.09pm: SS5 – Viana do Castelo 2 (26.70km)

5.06pm: SS6 – Caminha 2 (18.10km)

5.46pm: SS7 – Ponte de Lima 2 (27.46km)

7.03pm: SS8 – Braga Street Stage 1 (1.90km)

7.28pm: SS9 – Braga Street Stage 2 (1.90km)

8.40pm: Service C (Exponor – 49 mins)

SATURDAY 20 MAY

7.15am: Service D (Exponor – 19 mins)

9.08am: SS10 – Vieira do Minho 1 (17.43km)

9.46am: SS11 – Cabeceiras de Basto 1 (22.30km)

11.04am: SS12 – Amarante 1 (37.55km)

1.00pm: Service E (Exponor – 34 mins)

3.08pm: SS13 – Vieira do Minho 2 (17.43km)

3.46pm: SS14 – Cabeceiras de Basto 2 (22.30km)

5.04pm: SS15 – Amarante 2 (37.55km)

6.55pm: Service F (Exponor – 49 mins)

SUNDAY 21 MAY

7.35am: Service G (Exponor – 19 mins)

9.08am: SS16 – Fafe 1 (11.18km)

9.30am: SS17 – Luilhas (11.91km)

10.20am: SS18 – Montim (8.66km)

12.18pm: SS19 – Power Stage Fafe 2 (11.18km)

1.50pm: Service H (Exponor – 14 mins)

2.20pm: Finish

The shakedown was very close.

1. Sordo / Marti (Hyundai i20 WRC) 3:06.9

2. Ogier / Ingrassia (Ford Fiesta WRC) 3:07.0

3. Latvala / Anttila (Toyota Yaris WRC) 3:07.1

4. Meeke / Nagle (Citroën C3 WRC) 3:07.2

5. Evans / Barritt (Ford Fiesta WRC) 3:07.5

12. Lefebvre / Moreau (Citroën C3 WRC) 3:09.4

13. Breen / Martin (Citroën C3 WRC) 3:09.5

16. Al Qassimi / Patterson (Citroën C3 WRC) 3:16.3

The first stage was just a blast around. Thierry and Mads set the same time incredibly!

SS1 – Lousada (SSS) (3.36km)

1 Neuville & Ostberg 2:36.6 (90kph)

3 Paddon +0.1

After the short stage on Thursday evening, the top ten looked like this.

1 Ostberg 2m36.6s

2 Neuville +0.0s

3 Paddon +0.1s

4 Evans +0.4s

5 Sordo +0.5s

6 Ogier +0.7s

7 Latvala +1.5s

8 Lefebvre +1.5s

9 Hänninen +1.8s

10 Meeke +2.0s

Friday dawned bright and warm. Hayden powered through the stage, clearly glad to be back on gravel and took the lead of the event. His teammate, Thierry had a nightmare, losing nearly 13 seconds and dropping to 12th overall.

SS2 – Viana do Castelo 1 (26.70km)

1 Paddon 15:44.3 (104kph)

2 Latvala +1.0

3️ Meeke +1.2

Stage three and there was another change in the lead, with Jari-Matti moving to the front after Hayden lost time. There was big drama for Lefebvre who rolled in the stage and had two punctures now on his car and still one more stage before midday service. Ogier lost time through here and was now down to eighth position. Running at the front clearly was doing him no favours.

SS3 – Caminha 1 (18.10km)

1 Latvala 10:25.2 (108kph)
2 Evans +1.3
3 Tanak +1.9

The longest stage of the day and well, what an incredible situation with the top three setting the same time! Ogier would power through just 1.2 seconds slower than the top three, bringing his car back into the top five! Kris was just half a second behind Jari-Matti, now challenging for the lead!

SS4 – Ponte de Lima 1 (27.46km)

1️ Meeke, Breen & Tanak ‼️ 19:14.0 (85.3kph)

A quick midday service and then it was time to get back out there. Hayden repeated his stage win from the morning and moved back into the top five deposing Ogier down to sixth. Kris took the lead from Jari-Matti by just two tenths of a second

SS5 – Viana do Castelo 2 (26.70km)

1 Paddon 15:35.6 (104kph)

2 Sordo +4.2

3️ Meeke +5.1

Thierry won the next stage, thus closing the gap to his teammate Dani on the overall leaderboard. Hayden in his i20 also moved up to third overall. The big news was that Kris tumbled down from the lead to fifth place, now 6.2 seconds from the lead and Ott Tanak took over the lead.

SS6 – Caminha 2 (18.10km)

1 Neuville 10:25.0 (108kph)

2 Evans +0.4

3 Tanak +2.0

The next stage would be full of drama for Kris, who would run wide and hit the rear of his car thus damaging his suspension. Jari-Matti would also roll his Toyota, but was able to continue. It would go all wrong for Hayden, who suffered an electrical failure and drop from third to sixteenth! What a shocker for the young kiwi. With all this happening, both Dani, who won the stage and Ogier moved up into second and third respectively on the main leaderboard.

SS7 – Ponte de Lima 2 (27.46km)

1 Sordo 19:20.2 (85.3kph)

2 Ogier +2.6

3 Tanak +4.6

Just two small stages to end the first full day, which finished with these results.

SS8 – Braga Street Stage1 (1.90km)

1 Ogier 1:48.8 (60kph)

2 Neuville +0.2

3 Paddon +0.5

SS9 – Braga Street Stage2 (1.90km)

1 Ostberg 1:46.5 (60kph)

2 Paddon +0.4

3 Evans +0.6

Here the top ten after the first day.

1 O. Tanak 1:37:18.5

2 D. Sordo +4.6

3 S. Ogier +5.0

4 T. Neuville +11.1

5 C. Breen +12.9

6 E. Evans +18.3

7 J. Hänninen +52.0

8 E. Lappi +1:12.3

9 A. Mikkelsen +3:17.8

10 M. Østberg +3:50.0

Let’s here from the drivers then, starting with the top three.

Ott Tänak (1st) said:

“It’s great to be in the lead of the rally. The plan always was to get a good start position for tomorrow and it looks as though we’ve made a good job of that.

“We struggled a bit this afternoon with some damage to the wishbone on the middle stage [SS6]. We had to make some repairs, so I’m happy to see that it stayed together and we made it back to service still in the lead.

“As we saw today, the competition is really tight and everyone is going at pretty much the same pace. It’s really good to see that the competition is so strong and I’m sure that will continue into tomorrow. We just need to keep pushing and keep smart.”

Dani Sordo (2nd) said:

“It’s been a very promising and highly enjoyable day. We have shown some good pace in the Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC, and set some competitive stage times. It is always a special feeling to perform so well in front of these passionate fans, so I was very happy to claim a stage win this afternoon. It’s been an incredibly close day and there are just five seconds separating the top three, with plenty more action behind us as well. I think it will continue to be an exciting rally with very tough stages to come on Saturday. I hope we can carry on in this way and try to score our second podium of the season.”

Sébastien Ogier (3rd) said:

“Overall, I think we can be really happy with our day. It was tough to open the road, but we pushed hard through all of the stages and I’m very pleased with our position tonight.

“It got quite rough for the second loop which is always a bit more risky, but for sure it’s faster to be further back – cleaning the road is never easy. If I could choose, I would always prefer to start from the back but it’s part of the game and I think we’ve done a really good job today.

“The competition is so tight at the moment and we came really close to catching Dani on the closing stages – just 0.4 seconds at the end of the day! It’s certainly going to be an interesting one tomorrow. The rally is still anyone’s for the taking and we’ll give it our all like always.”

Citroen Abu Dhabi Racing WRT

Craig Breen (5th) said:

“It’s been a fantastic day, I didn’t expect to be fighting so near the front on what is effectively my first time here. I feel that I have made progress in understanding the car and my only regret was on SS7, when I damaged the damper when I hit a stone. If it hadn’t been for that, I think we could have closed the gap to the leaders!”

Stéphane Lefebvre (19th) said:

“It’s a shame because I felt comfortable in the C3 WRC on these roads. On SS3, we were on a fast section and there was a misunderstanding on the pace note. I carried too much speed into the corner and the car drifted wide before hitting a low bank. We rolled, but the damage wasn’t too significant. The mechanics did a great job during service, but the handling of the car was nonetheless impaired throughout the second loop. The main thing is that we are still in the race, and we’ll be trying hard to do better tomorrow.”

Khalid Al Qassimi (20th) said:

“We spent the day learning about what is fundamentally a very different car to the one I have been driving recently. As we completed more stages, we tried to alter the set-up to suit my driving style. There are a lot of things to learn in order to establish all the right reflexes. I’m pleased to have avoided making any mistakes.”

Hyundai Motorsport

Thierry Neuville (4th) said:

“I am pleased that we got back some of our lost time. I felt that we could have regained some tomorrow but we are now more firmly in the podium and victory fight, which is fair. It was nice to share the stage win in Thursday evening’s super special but we got down to real business on Friday morning and it was a different story. It might not have been the best opening stage this morning but the feeling was getting better and better. We ended the morning just ten seconds from the podium. We wanted to give it a push in the afternoon where tyre choice was really important. I think we made the right decision for the entire loop, and we won SS6 with a very nice time. We were just focused on not making mistakes and closing the time deficit to the leader. Now we can put the dramas from today behind us and look ahead to Saturday with optimism.”

Hayden Paddon (24th) commented:

“I honestly don’t know when we are going to catch a break. Things started well this morning with a stage win. We had a small electrical issue in SS3, which cost us some time, but it was really close at the top and we were firmly in the battle. We were expecting the second pass to suit us better. Tyre choice was an important consideration but we were managing that well. We benefitted from some positive changes to the diff and suspension at lunchtime service, so it was looking really promising. Then, in SS7, we were on a flyer but the electrical issue recurred suddenly and we stopped mid-stage. We lost 11 minutes before we could get restarted and we have to re-join under Rally 2 tomorrow. That’s effectively the rally over for us but our road position tomorrow means we can try to show our true pace. We can only use the remainder of the weekend as a test. I’m trying to stay positive but I hope there’s something really good when this run of bad luck ends.”

D-Mack WRT

Elfyn Evans (6th) said:

“It’s been an okay day to be fair. We had a few little issues this morning and I didn’t get off to a great start. It was quite damp and it didn’t suit the tyres so well – we prefer it when it’s a bit dryer – but the middle stage was good. Unfortunately, we then picked up a puncture [on the last stage of the morning, SS4] and lost what I think was about 15 seconds to the leaders.

“The gap has stayed the same this afternoon and if you take the puncture out of the equation we would have been looking at quite a positive position. But it is what it is, and we’ll keep fighting tomorrow. It’s good that everyone is so close, and I think everyone will be going hard tomorrow so we need to do our best.”

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Jari-Matti Latvala (13th) said:

“I was able to push hard today, even though the roads were even rougher than I expected. To be leading the rally was quite surprising. On the final gravel stage of the day, which was very rough, I had a strange feeling with the car, like it was skidding. I didn’t manage to get it stopped on time, so we hit the bank, went up onto two wheels and rolled, losing a lot of time. There was some damage to the car but we managed to get it to back to service, which is the most important thing and tomorrow is a new day. We will fight to get back in the points, as we have already shown today that with our Toyota Yaris WRC we can fight for victory.”

Juho Hänninen (7th)

“Compared to lots of other people I had quite a good day today, not so many big problems. In the morning, I felt I was quite careful, maybe a little bit too careful, but that’s always better than not being careful enough. We made some changes to the car for the afternoon to help it cope with the rougher terrain even better, but it was still very difficult. We picked up a bit of a damage, with the front wing coming off, but not enough to affect us too much. We’ve seen that the car is fast and strong, so there are lots of reasons to be happy as we go into tomorrow.”

Esapekka Lappi (8th)

“It was a good day for me, even though we lost some time with a hole in the intercooler in the afternoon, which affected the amount of power. Apart from that I’m quite happy: I tried not to take any risks and play my way into it gradually. Today was all about building up confidence, especially as the roads were more slippery and softer than I expected. I think we are OK in the slow corners; in the fast corners, I feel we can go quicker, but for now I’m not quite brave enough!”

Jipocar WRT

Mads Østberg (10th) said:

“It was a shame to get two punctures over SS4 and SS5. I thought I could manage to finish the stage without too much loss, like I did on SS4 where I also had a puncture. But with eight km’s to go on SS5 I was driving on the rim and had to stop to change the wheel. It was a huge disappointment, as we felt we had the speed to fight for top positions in this rally.”

Mads dropped to 16th, but fought back in the afternoon.

“I must say I am a bit surprised and amused. Superspecials and spectator stages really hasn`t been my strength before, and I can`t actually remember the last time I won such a stage. I did a lousy run through SS8, the first time through the stage in Braga, and was really disappointed with myself. Then I thought before SS9 that I can`t let all this people think I am that bad. So, I was properly angry and drove a near perfect stage. It was also very satisfying to win a stage on tarmac. I felt I had reached an all-time low after SS5, but now I am looking forward to show that my speed is good enough to post stage times among the best. This is definitely a very demanding and tough rally, and there are possibilities to advance several places as long as we stay on the road.”

Saturday’s action started just after 8am UK time. Five stages, with the longest stage of the whole weekend, Amarante at 37.55km’s being run twice.

Seb was after that win and he was close enough to his teammate to do it. First blood would fall to him and he would move up into second place overall. With Elfyn going through the stage so fast, it would see him move ahead of Craig into fifth place. Mads would also move up ahead of Jari-Matti into ninth place.

SS10 – Vieira do Minho 1 (17.43km)

1 Ogier 10:46.4 (102kph)

2 Evans +0.2

3 Neuville +1.8

Ott fought back on the next stage to open up a six second lead over Seb, with Thierry moving ahead of Dani into third as well. Both Craig and Juho moved ahead of Elfyn who dropped down to seventh.

SS11 – Cabeceiras de Basto 1 (22.30km)

1 Tanak 13:32.6 (101.5kph)

2 Ogier +5.2

3 Neuville +9.9

Ott would endure a nightmare following stage. He slid wide and the car hit a bank, causing damage that would slow him down, falling from the lead to fifth place. Seb assumed the lead, with Thierry, Dani, and Craig moving up a place. Ott had lost a minute and ten seconds. The gap between first and second was now 19.5 seconds.

SS12 – Amarante 1 (37.55km)

1 Ogier 24:41.5 (92.5kph)

2 Neuville +6.9

3 Sordo +8.6

Thierry would win this one, clearly car and driver now working in harmony. Seb was only a second slower though, so this wasn’t the watershed moment we were hoping for. Former leader Ott would lose another three seconds, but still maintained fifth overall. The good news was that Ott had managed to get his car to service, so the problem was able to be sorted before the afternoon stages.

I’ll let Ott explain what happened.

He says, “We were having a really good morning and the car felt really good. We were pushing for sure, but also fairly comfortable at the pace we were setting. Unfortunately, we just had some understeer under braking [on SS12] and hit the bank on the outside.

“We damaged the suspension and lost the brakes which made it pretty difficult through the closing kilometres and cost us a lot of time. But what can you do? We just have to pick ourselves up and focus on the next loop.

“We need to do the same job as we did this morning. Get everything fixed, make a good tyre choice, get back into the same rhythm, and see what we can do.”

With Ott’s car fixed, he was back in the groove, setting a quick time and looking to catch Craig who was ahead of him in fourth place and the gap came down by three seconds.

SS13 – Vieira do Minho 2 (17.43km)

1 Neuville 10:43.4 (102kph)

2 Ogier +1.0

3 Tanak +3.5

While Ogier and Neuville would continue their dice for the lead, Ott closed the gap a further six seconds to Craig. There were changes further down with Elfyn and Esapekka both moving up ahead of Juha into sixth and seventh places.

SS14 – Cabeceiras de Basto 2 (22.30km)

1 Ogier 13:31.0 (101.5kph)

2 Neuville +4.5

3 Latvala +5.0

Thierry would take six seconds out of Seb’s lead in stage 15, but the good news for Ott would continue in the afternoon loop, with him moving ahead of Craig into fourth place. After his improvement in the previous stage, Esapekka would lose a bundle of time dropping to eleventh place. All the drivers behind would move up one place each.

SS15 – Amarante 2 (37.55km)

1 Neuville 24:33.8 (92.5kph)

2 Ogier +6.2

3 Tanak +10.3

So, after a dramatic Saturday, lets here from the drivers, starting with the top three.

Sébastien Ogier (1st) said:

“I’m very happy with how my day went. It’s been a very long time since I‘ve been able to do this kind of performance – having always been first or second into the stages. I think I did the same kind of driving as yesterday but the road position is quite different and I’m very pleased with the gap that we have managed to build.

“For sure the rally is not over yet and we still need to finish the job. With 16 seconds you can never relax completely so we need to continue in the same way – keeping the same speed and staying clear of trouble.

“We have some beautiful stages still to drive tomorrow and I really love Fafe – it’s fantastic. For sure we still have to push because no one is going to back off. We still need to give it all we have and the Power Stage is always important for those extra points.

“I’m really looking forward to this last day and hoping to bring home another good result for the team and the championship.”

Thierry Neuville (2nd) said:

“We have done all we could do today to stay in touch with the rally leader. We have shown consistent pace throughout the day and also taken two stage wins ourselves, which is encouraging. But Ogier has been out of reach in some stages today, which has allowed him to build a healthy lead. We are pretty happy to be second, though, especially after the tough day we had yesterday. This morning was something of a compromise on tyres. We started strongly in SS13 with the win but then it was hit and miss, as we gained in some places and lost in others. The final run of the day was the one I felt most comfortable with, and it was nice to end the day with a stage win. There are still opportunities in the final four stages but as a team we have two cars on the podium, so we won’t be doing anything crazy on Sunday morning.”

Dani Sordo (3rd) said:

“It’s been a difficult day really but we can be reasonably content to be in a comfortable podium position. I tried my best, as always, but I wanted to put up more of a battle for the lead than we were able to. The car was sliding around at the rear quite a bit, especially in the morning, and we were missing some traction compared to our nearest rivals. We tried to make improvements at lunchtime but the times did not improve. The stages were still enjoyable and I had fun. We can’t be too disappointed to be third, on the provisional podium, which was our target this weekend. There is still a lot to do on Sunday, so it is not guaranteed yet.”

Ott Tänak (4th) said:

“It was a shame about what happened this morning. We were pushing hard but still felt quite comfortable with the pace we were setting. This is rallying and it’s just the way it goes sometimes so I’m not too frustrated.

“This afternoon we weren’t pushing so much – just concentrating on having a good rhythm with a smooth and clean drive. It was good to get back up to fourth, and that gives us a better road position going into tomorrow.

“We’ll see what happens and try to do our best as always. Craig [Breen] is still quite close behind and he’s had some good speed this weekend so we’ll have to keep an eye on him for sure.”

FIA WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP 2017 -WRC Portugal (POR) – WRC 18/05/2017 to 21/05/2017 – PHOTO : @World

D-Mack WRT

Elfyn Evans (6th) said:

“We were really happy with the first stage [SS10], but it’s not been so good since then. I made a mistake half way through the second stage [SS11] and was quite lucky to get back on the road. We did, but we drove to the end of the stage with a puncture and that then caused some damage to the damper – which hampered us for the longest stage of the loop [SS12].

“Moving on to the afternoon, we decided to try some different things and experimented within our package. It didn’t work out, but nothing ventured nothing gained and we did manage to get back up to sixth which is a positive.”

Citroen Abu Dhabi Racing WRT

Craig Breen (5th)

“It was difficult for me to compete with drivers who have contested some stages for the last three years. In any case, we managed to hold onto fourth place for most of the day and improve our understanding of the car. On Amarante 2, I had to cope with wear on the rear tyres and I made a little mistake, which let Tänak past. But the gap is less than three seconds and tomorrow is a proper leg, so we’ll see. I’m staying positive!”

Stéphane Lefebvre (14th)

“I struggled to get my bearings in the car this morning. It’s true that my road position was less favourable than yesterday. But as we completed more stages, and then during service, we made significant progress with the set-up. It was an instructive day.”

Kris Meeke (23rd)

“I was unable to reproduce the level of performance I had yesterday. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact there wasn’t much at stake today, given that we rejoined under Rally2 rules. We worked on the set-up, and made some progress between the morning and afternoon loops.”

Khalid Al Qassimi (18th)

“Insofar as we were running second on the road, we inherited a tough situation because there was a lot of cleaning. Everything didn’t go perfectly today; I found myself with no ‘boost’ on SS14 and the car was very difficult to drive at that point. In any case, the C3 WRC has a huge amount of potential and I think I have made progress in driving the car.”

Hyundai Motorsport

Hayden Paddon commented: “What can I say? It just seems our bad luck continues. We started this morning’s loop in a positive frame of mind despite the issues we had yesterday. The team worked hard to replace the loom on the car to allow us to continue under Rally 2. We knew it would be tough as second on the road, but we were determined to push and have some fun. I enjoyed it! We had some good sideways moments and put on a good show for the fans. The times were never going to be representative with all the cleaning we had to do. Then, in the afternoon, our luck turned once again as we experienced a steering problem that ended the day early. Not a lot more to add, other than we’ll try to have a trouble-free final day tomorrow.”

Jipocar WRT

Mads Østberg (8th) said:

“After yesterday’s punctures and time losses we were in a vacuum with no realistic chances of a top placing. I am still trying to learn the 2017 spec car and has used the six stages today to test different suspension settings and get some experience with the different tyres. We have advanced according to plan and will be fighting for as many points as possible tomorrow.”

Speaking about Jari-Matti, Mads continued-

“He is not far behind, but I get some motivation actually to fight for position. We will use the experience from this rally to come back even stronger in Sardinia, but first I must keep Jari-Matti behind me tomorrow.”

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Jari-Matti Latvala (9th) said:

“I started the day not feeling very well: I had a stomach upset that made it difficult for me to keep any food down, but it’s been getting better and better. The really positive thing about today is that we’ve definitely improved the car for the second passes over the stages, especially the suspension. Everyone has done a lot of good work so compared to yesterday, it’s certainly going in the right direction. We’ve had one or two small niggles during the day but no major problems. The roads were more solid today, which made the cleaning effect bigger, but this also meant that they were not damaged as much in the afternoon. This rally has been a good learning experience for us so far.”

Juho Hänninen (7th) said:

“We saw some dust from Esapekka on the final stage, and he quickly let us past on after his problem so big thanks to him and the team for co-ordinating this. Quite a tricky day for us, as in the afternoon we lost about a minute after the car stopped on stage 14 and then it took us some time to get going again; I’m not entirely sure why yet, but I believe the team will fix it. Generally, the stages this afternoon were in better condition than they were yesterday, but of course I am driving with a bit in reserve as I don’t really have any experience here. Apart from that, no big issues, but the grip for me felt a bit variable all day. The important thing is to stay calm, then hopefully we can have a good result tomorrow.”

Esapekka Lappi (11th) said:

“I got caught out by some loose gravel on the asphalt part of the final stage and unfortunately this meant that the back of the car hit a wall: it did some damage to the rear-right and we also lost the brake disc. Luckily, we were able to come back to service. On the second stage this morning we also lost around a minute: I stalled the car on the stage, which was my mistake, and then I had to make some adjustments to start it again. So a few mistakes from me today and we didn’t always have the right tyres either, but that is all part of the learning process. Generally, I thought there was a bit less grip on the roads today than yesterday, so in some places I was braking a bit too early.”

Top ten after day two

1 Ogier 3h15m24.6s

2 Neuville +16.8s

3 Sordo +51.3s

4 Tanak +1m29.6s

5 Breen +1m32.4s

6 Evans +3m01.8s

7 Hänninen +3m29.8s

8 Ostberg +5m16.6s

9 Latvala +5m32.7s

10 Mikkelsen +7m06.6s

11 Lappi +8m00.9s

Sunday

First stage of the day would feature the world famous Fafe leap! Hayden would hit the ground running and won it from Ott and Thierry. The only place that would change was Esapekka moving ahead of Lefebvre into tenth place. Thierry closed the gap to Seb by a little over a second, bringing the gap down to 16 seconds. Ott was also closer to Dani, going seven seconds faster than the Spaniard.

SS16 – Fafe 1 (11.18km)

1 Paddon 6:39.7 (110kph)

2 Tanak +2.6

3 Neuville +2.7

Dani wasn’t going to let the young Estonian through without a fight though and was duly faster than Ott keeping the gap above thirty seconds with two stages left. Mads was doing a great job in his Fiesta, keeping Jari-Matti behind him.

SS17 – Luílhas (11.91km)

1 Ogier 8:09.7 (82.5kph)

2 Sordo +3.3

3 Neuville +3.3

Hayden would continue his good form, winning his second stage of the day, and Kris just behind him showing much better, after a pretty awful event, one that he won last year as well. With one stage to run, the gap between first and second was now 17.5 seconds and barring disaster, Seb was in the pound seats. Dani was doing a perfect run, maintaining the gap to Ott at the thirty second mark.

SS18 – Montim (8.66km)

1 Paddon 5:51.7 (96kph)

2️ Meeke +2.1

3 Evans +3.4

Ott would win the power stage and with it the five points. Thierry would take second and four points, Elfyn three points, Esapekka completing his first WRC event fourth in this stage and taking two points from it and championship leader Seb, one point.

SS19 – Fafe 2 (Power Stage) (11.18km)

1 Tanak 6:38.3 (110kph)

2 Neuville +0.4

3 Evans +1.5

Final Results

1 Ogier 3h42m55.7s

2 Neuville +15.6s

3 Sordo +1m01.7s

4 Tanak +1m30.2s

5 Breen +1m57.4s

6 Evans +3m10.6s

7 Hänninen+3m48.6s

8 Ostberg +5m29.7s

9 Latvala +5m43.6s

10 Lappi +8m13.3s

Seb took his second win of the season for M-Sport, to open up the gap to his closest challenger, Thierry.

Let’s hear from the drivers, starting with the top three.

Sébastien Ogier (1st) said:

“I’m delighted with this result. It’s been a hard fight until the end but I think everyone always enjoys winning like that. Honestly, when we did the recce, I didn’t think we would have a chance to challenge for the victory – and that makes this result an even prouder and happier one.

“Opening the road is always a challenge, but we had a really good run through Friday’s stages and that gave us a much better road position for the rest of the rally. On Saturday, I was back where I always prefer to be and posted the first or second fastest time though every stage.

“It was an intense fight with Ott through the first half of the rally. He had great pace all weekend and, even after his mistake, managed to score good points for the team.

“Everything feels good and I really must thank the team for all of their hard work. I’ve always said that rallying is a team effort and the car has been perfect all weekend. Everyone is putting in the maximum and they really deserve this victory.

“I’m happy that we could give back from our side with a strong performance. Actually, my number one mechanic and my engineer are Portuguese so I’m sure they are very proud to secure this one too!”

FIA WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP 2017 -WRC Portugal (POR) – WRC 18/05/2017 to 21/05/2017 – PHOTO : @World

Thierry Neuville (2nd) said:

“We had a good, clean Power Stage to end our rally in a positive manner. We have struggled a bit with the rear of the car this weekend, which has prevented us from challenging Ogier and M-Sport for the win more strongly. They delivered a great performance here, which we couldn’t match. Still, after two wins I am pleased to finish second as well as taking another good haul of Power Stage points. That has been very important for my position in the Drivers’ Championship, moving now into second place behind Ogier. Also, from a team point of view, with Dani in third, we have added more points to the team’s standings, so it’s been a valuable and successful weekend. Thanks to the team for their efforts, we can now look ahead to Sardinia, where we were victorious last season, in a very positive frame of mind.”

2017 FIA World Rally Championship
Round 06, Rally de Portugal
18-21 May 2017
Thierry Neuville – Nicolas Gilsoul, Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC
Photographer: RaceEMotion
Worldwide copyright: Hyundai Motorsport GmbH

Dani Sordo (3rd) said:

“I am really happy with this podium result. I was a bit disappointed on Saturday not to be able to fight closer to the front, but Sébastien and Thierry were just too fast. It left me a bit too far away to attack more on today’s stages so I was just focused on finishing third and taking the podium. It was a fun and enjoyable weekend. The support of the spectators was incredible and it was fantastic to see so many people lining the stages. Big thanks to everyone who has cheered us on, and to everyone in the team for this great result.”

M-Sport WRT

Ott Tänak (4th) said:

“Generally, I think we can be pleased with our weekend. We made a mistake on Saturday which meant that we lost the chance to battle Seb for the victory, but we had good pace, good speed and a good feeling with the car.

“I think this was probably the best set-up that I have had all year. After every test we keep improving and we’ll have a two-day test next week to prepare for Sardinia where we hope to challenge for another strong result.

“This is traditionally the event where you see the true potential of the cars and, at the moment, it looks like we have a good package. For sure there are still some small improvements to be made, but it’s certainly looking promising.”

D-Mack WRT

Elfyn Evans (6th) said:

“It’s been a rally of ups and downs. It’s not been the perfect weekend, but there are plenty of good things to take away. It wasn’t ideal that we made the mistake on Saturday, but when the going was good, so was the speed and we have to take that positive forward.”

Citroen Abu Dhabi WRT

Craig Breen (5th) said:

“It looks like I’ve signed up for fifth place for the season! It’s been another good weekend for us. We were one of the fastest on Friday and in all likelihood, we would have led the overall standings had we not hit a rock and broken a damper on SS7. We had a little bit more difficulty matching the pace of the leading cars on the next two days. I think there were several factors at play, but it was mainly down to my lack of knowledge of the stages and not having such a good starting position. We’ll keep working and try to do even better in Sardinia.”

Stéphane Lefebvre (13th) said:

“The result obviously falls way short of what we were looking for when we came here. We had worked particularly hard to prepare for this rally, but our race changed shape dramatically on Friday morning. After our roll, we tried to improve as we completed more stages. Our starting position certainly didn’t help us to show what we can do.”

Kris Meeke (18th) said:

“We ended the rally today having got back to a rhythm closer to that of the leading crews. It seems that our level of performance wasn’t as good after the first leg, and we’ll need to work out why. We must all keep working and, on my side of things, I have to cut out these minor mistakes.”

Khalid Al Qassimi (17th) said:

“We had quite a scare on the second run over the Fafe jump! I wanted to go faster than on the first pass, but it was clearly a bit too much… In any case, I’m pleased to make it to the end of my first rally in the Citroën C3 WRC. I need to get more kilometres under my belt to come to terms with its potential.”

Hyundai Motorsport

Hayden Paddon (29th) commented:

“First of all, I’d like to say big thanks to our team for their hard work. It’s been a frustrating one at times but they have never given up. In fact, they only dig deeper with each rally so we are all aiming to conquer this challenge together. We wanted to use these final stages of the rally to show what we could accomplish, and the fact we could set more stage wins only reinforced what might have been without our troubles. The Power Stage was fun. As first on the road, we had to do a lot of cleaning, more than we expected, but I enjoyed it. Seb has done an amazing job in his first time in the car. We could’ve been fighting for the win here this weekend but there are some encouraging signs for the future.”

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Jari-Matti Latvala (9th)

“Physically, this is the hardest rally I have ever done in my career. I was feeling terrible yesterday, but I spent the night in hospital to rehydrate and as a result I felt a lot better today and we were able to finish in the points, which I am very happy about. There’s no test before Sardinia, so I have a chance to rest properly – I think I could sleep now for the next two days! – and come back even stronger for the next rally.”

FIA WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP 2017 -WRC Portugal (POR) – WRC 18/05/2017 to 21/05/2017 – PHOTO : @World

Juho Hänninen (7th)

“I’m happy to end another rally in a points-scoring place, especially because we didn’t have much experience here and conditions were quite tricky, although not quite as bad as Argentina. The most important thing is that we learned a lot and generally had a clean run: this helps the confidence. Today we were trying a couple of different things for the future, and I had a lot of fun on the Fafe stage: the crowds were amazing and it was a fantastic experience, so thank you to them as well.”

FIA WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP 2017 -WRC Portugal (POR) – WRC 18/05/2017 to 21/05/2017 – PHOTO : @World

Esapekka Lappi (10th)

“To be honest, before the rally I was hoping that we could score points in the overall classification, but I would never have dreamed of it happening on the Power Stage. So, in many ways, this rally didn’t exactly go as I expected, but I’m happy: I think we found the right speed, which is very important. On the first two stages, today I tried to save the tyres, then on the two final ones I could push harder. My landing after the jump on the Fafe Power Stage was interesting – but at least I could demonstrate how tough the suspension on the Yaris WRC is!”

Jipocar WRT

Coming into the last day, Mads was in a fight with Jari-Matti. The Fiesta crew was therefore very happy that they beat them! In his traditional showman way, Mads decided to go for it over the famous Fafe jump in the power stage. I’ll let him explain what happened!

Mads Østberg (8th) said:

“I saw the 40-metre sign coming towards us and we landed with our front left wheel more or less on top of it. A little bit more “exciting” than we had planned perhaps, but fun to give the huge crowd something to cheer for!”

FIA WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP 2017 -WRC Portugal (POR) – WRC 18/05/2017 to 21/05/2017 – PHOTO : @World

Talking about the event overall, he went on to say,

“We started the rally with ambitions to fight for a top position, but their chances were destroyed with two punctures midway through Friday. The first one we “survived”, but on SS5 we had to stop and change the wheel and lost three and a half minutes. So, the rest of the rally has been a question of finishing and testing different set-ups. Of course, it has been disappointing not to be up among the frontrunners, but we have won two stages in this rally and also gained a lot of valuable experience.”

Finally explaining about the gold covered roof on their car, and their hopes looking forward to Rally Italia.

“We started to talk about the heat inside the car in Argentina. A black roof on the car actually sucks the rays of sun and heat into the car, and then someone suggested a shiny and reflective surface on the roof. And shiny gold really does the job.”

“It has been much cooler inside the car and much more comfortable for Ola and me. On long stages, we have experienced less sweating and dehydration. I feel that we are on the right course. Rally Portugal wasn`t as expected for us, but we have gained a lot of valuable experience with the car and will use that to fight for a better result in Sardinia.”

Well then, lets sum up the weekend. Seb returned M-Sport to the top step for the second time this year. Thierry and the Hyundai team continue their incredible consistency after those wobbles at the start of the year.

What about Hayden and Kris? Well, both really need a break. Since Kris won in Mexico, he has not scored a decent result. Who’d have thought that Craig would be the highest placed Citroen driver?!

Hayden also needs a break too. Unreliability has certainly cost him results him this year. He’s certainly shown the pace this year, just like Kris.

Finally, what about young Finn, Esapekka Lappi? On his first drive in a top car for Toyota he drove his Yaris WRC to tenth place and also scored points in the power stage. Impressive indeed, and he clearly has a future at the top of this sport.

Let’s take a look then at the championship positions for the drivers and teams.

2017 FIA World Rally Championship for drivers after round six:

1 Sebastien Ogier 128

2 Thierry Neuville 106

3 Jari-Matti Latvala 88

4 Ott Tanak 83

5 Dani Sordo 66

6 Elfyn Evans 53

7 Craig Breen 43

8 Hayden Paddon 33

9 Kris Meeke 27

10 Juho Hänninen 21

2017 FIA World Rally Championship for manufacturers after round six:

1 M-Sport World Rally Team 199

2 Hyundai Motorsport 173

3 TOYOTA GAZOO Racing WRT 113

4 Citroen Total Abu Dhabi World Rally Team 85

Hope you enjoyed my review of Rally de Portugal.

Warren Nel

@Warren_S_Nel (Twitter)

@warrensnel (Instagram)

1st June 2017

IMSA Agree TCR Class For 2018

WSC Ltd, the rights holder for TCR, and International Motor Sports Association (IMSA), today confirmed plans for a TCR class to begin competing in the IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge, beginning in 2018.

The TCR class will run in addition to the two existing Continental Tire Challenge classes, Grand Sport (GS) and Street Tuner (ST) next season.

“We began our due diligence process on the potential introduction of the TCR platform more than a year ago, and formally announced that we were exploring the concept last year,” said IMSA CEO Ed Bennett. “We engaged our automotive partners and teams throughout the discovery process and determined that TCR would be an attractive addition to the Continental Tire Challenge. We are pleased to work together with WSC CEO Marcello Lotti and Sporting and Series Director Nunzia Corvino to introduce what we believe will be a popular class to IMSA fans and participants.”

Through its partnership with WSC, IMSA will use TCR cars fully homologated by WSC in the new Continental Tire Challenge class. The TCR class is projected to slot in between GS and ST, based on its current level of performance.

As the market develops for TCR-spec cars, IMSA has the additional, exclusive right to establish TCR USA and TCR Canada as standalone series. IMSA, in cooperation with WSC, also now holds the right to sublicense the proper use of TCR specifications to other sanctioning bodies in the territory as well.

“TCR has quickly become the standard global Touring Car platform,” said Lotti. “Our goal was to once again create a base for Touring Car racing. The crucial part about it was to keep the costs for the cars low to ensure equality of opportunity. In North America, we believed IMSA was the most professional partner available in the market and we could not be more pleased to establish this partnership together.”

Current TCR manufacturers with a presence in North America include Audi, Ford, Honda, Alfa Romeo, KIA, Subaru and Volkswagen.

TCR cars will make their Continental Tire Challenge debut next January at the Daytona International Speedway during the three-day Roar Before The Rolex 24 At Daytona, with their first race planned for the day preceding the 2018 Rolex 24.

Neil Simmons

Twitter: @world_racing

(c) Photos courtesy of TCR International Series

Press Release courtesy of TCR International Series

Italian Shades in Monaco

Monte Carlo, Monaco.
Sunday 28 May 2017.
World Copyright: Sam Bloxham/LAT Images (Courtesy of Pirelli F1 Media)
ref: Digital Image _W6I4711

Monaco Grand Prix, a race which most of us want to forget and delete it from our hard disk, a race which only one team and one driver wants to remember it. The team, as you can guess, is Ferrari and the driver is the four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel.

Ferrari celebrated their first victory in Monaco since 2001, Sebastian Vettel overtook Kimi Raikkonen took the lead of the race after his first pit-stop and secured an easy victory and Ferrari’s first 1-2 in 2017.

A bad weekend for Mercedes, they lost the lead in the constructors’ championship, they didn’t finish on the podium, but at least both drivers finished in the points.

By now I guess most of you, you will know what happened in Monaco, the winners and the losers of the previous weekend, but there are several trends in social media, about “team orders”, the unfair way that Ferrari gave the lead and the victory to Vettel and that Kimi had to win.

The facts indicate that when Kimi pitted, Vettel made some flying laps, remained on track, pitted a couple of laps later and passed Kimi Raikkonen. The Finn, couldn’t follow Vettel’s pace, and I assume that he preferred to protect his engine than to push in a difficult and risky track for overtakes, which would be very difficult for him to pass Vettel.

Who can blame Ferrari for choosing different strategies for Raikkonen and Vettel? Who can say that Ferrari is not fair with the way that they are treating their drivers?

Even if I accept that Ferrari decided to help Vettel to win, I don’t think that it was a bad move. First of all Vettel is leading into the drivers’ championship, he is more competitive than his team-mate, he has a bigger contract and finally he is a four-time world champion.

Another difference is that Kimi Raikkonen will, probably, retire after the end of this or the next season, he is 37 years old, compared to Vettel, who is 29 and if he wins the title this year he will remain at Ferrari and will his chances to win more trophies will be increased.

And don’t forget that Vettel is from Germany, he was born in the same country with Michael Schumacher, Ferrari’s legend and Vettel’s hero. For me that plays the biggest role in team’s decisions.

Ferrari wants to return to the top and win the championship after almost 10 years, and they are not willing to risk it for any reason. I am sure that if they secure the title before the final race they will let Raikkonen to win a race. It won’t be the same, but remember that the team is above the drivers.

At least we have to recognise that Ferrari have improved their “team orders” skills, no team radio this time and no “Kimi, Vettel is faster than you!”

Victor Archakis F1 Editor – @FP_Passion

 

 

From the Jordan wonder years to the Force India renaissance

 

Photo courtesy of Rick Dikema

The factory at Silverstone that Force India call home has been under many guises and names since privateer Eddie Jordan entered Formula One back in 1991. What was then an operation to blood younger drivers such as Michael and Ralf Schumacher, Eddie Irvine and Rubens Barrichello has undergone no fewer than three identity changes since the Midland Group bought Jordan back in 2005. Since then, Midland, Spyker and finally Force India have been perennial underdogs in the Formula One paddock.

Their first season yielded thirteen points through the efforts of no less than five drivers in an era where only the top six finishers scored points. Alongside Andrea De Cesaris’ nine points, Roberto Moreno, Michael Schumacher and Alessandro Zanardi stood in for the jailed Belgian Bertrand Gachot. 1992 was less successful with the only point scored by Stefano Modena, while 1993 was little better amid another high turnover of drivers including Irvine, Barrichello, Thierry Boutsen, Ivan Capelli, Marco Apicella and Emmanuele Naspetti. If those two years were troublesome, 1994 marked a rise to the midfield that would last until 2003. De Cesaris, Barrichello and Irvine would score between them 28 points and see the team fifth, with a further 21 scored in 1995. Irvine would leave for Ferrari in 1996 and be replaced by a much calmer Brit in Martin Brundle. Both he and Barrichello almost graced the podium as Jordan took three fourth place finishes in a more consistent year.

Photo courtesy of Crisp And Clean/ Stuart Seeger

1997 would see the team visit the podium more often with Ralf Schumacher and Giancarlo Fisichella, before a memorable 1998 in which Damon Hill took his last and Jordan’s first victory in a chaotic Belgian Grand Prix, with Ralf second as part of a 1-2 finish. 1999 was their most successful year as Heinz-Harald Frentzen sustained the unlikeliest of title challenges with two wins. The German remained in contention until the penultimate round of a championship won by Mika Hakkinen, before 17 points and sixth saw them fall back to earth with a bump in 2000. That marked the start of a decline in fortunes as 2001 saw little improvement to fifth despite often being on the pace, while 2002 yielded just nine points from rookie Takuma Sato and the returning Fisichella. For 2003 Jordan could only finish ninth ahead of Minardi despite a famous win for Fisichella at the Brazilian Grand Prix. The following season, despite regularly fighting with Minardi to avoid the wooden spoon, Nick Heidfeld and Timo Glock notched five points as Jordan sold the team at the end of the year.

2005 was the final season under the Jordan name, and all points bar the one that rookie Tiago Monteiro scored for eighth at the Belgian Grand Prix were taken from the farcical US Grand Prix, where 3rd and 4th for Monteiro and Narain Karthikeyan were enough to see them ahead of Minardi once again in a race where only six cars took to the start. 2006 saw a season-long rebrand as Midland F1, but the change in name failed to bring about a change in fortunes. Monteiro and Christijan Albers rarely looked like troubling the scorers as the team finished tenth – just ahead of Super Aguri. Dutch sportscar maker Spyker bought the team during 2006 and blooded Albers alongside German rookie Adrian Sutil for 2007. Albers was fired after the British Grand Prix while Markus Winkelhock led in his first ever race at the German Grand Prix, before fading and retiring. Sutil scored the team’s only point with eighth at in Japan.

Photo courtesy of V.Charpiat

Another season saw another owner with ambitious Indian businessman VJ Mallya, but 2008 was a struggle with Giancarlo Fisichella taking the team’s only top 10 finish in Spain. The following year the team moved up to ninth in Constructors’ championship after a memorable weekend at the Belgian Grand Prix saw Fisichella finish second to Kimi Raikkonen after pole position the day before.

2010 marked the start of a more consistent era for the team. Sutil and Vitantonio Liuzzi were regulars in the points and Sutil claimed 11th in the final standings with a best result of fifth in Malaysia. Scotsman Paul Di Resta replaced Liuzzi in 2011 for another consistent season for the team. Sutil moved up to ninth while Di Resta’s rookie season saw him 13th and in the points eight times, with solid rather than spectacular results ensuring the team finished seventh.In 2012 the team challenged for podium positions on a regular basis in one of the most open seasons in recent memory. Nico Hulkenberg replaced Sutil, dropped after an assault charge, and outpointed his British teammate on his way to 11th. Meanwhile, Di Resta was 14th despite both men finishing fourth in Belgium and Singapore respectively.

(L to R): Giancarlo Fisichella (ITA) Force India F1, Michiel Mol (NED), Vijay Mallya (IND), Jan Mol (NED), Adrian Sutil (GER) Force India F1 and Vitantonio Liuzzi (ITA) Force India F1.
Force India F1 Team Launch, Mumbai, India, Thursday 7 February 2008. Courtesy of Force India F1 Team

Hulkenberg joined Sauber in 2013, Sutil returning after serving his punishment for assault. He was considerably outperformed by Di Resta as the duo finished 12th and 13th following a more frustrating season for the team. Both drivers were dropped at the end of the season in favour of Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez. 2014 marked an upturn in fortunes for the team as a more engine reliant formula played into their hands. Hulkenberg’s consistency meant that he only finished outside of the points four times, while Perez took a podium in the famous Bahrain Grand Prix with third place. The team remained sixth, but the improvements were obvious.

The upward curve continued in 2015 and the team retained the previous year’s pairing. Perez took another podium with third in Russia, and Hulkenberg was also consistent despite a rocky start to the season. Force India moved up to fifth in the final standings. 2016 was the team’s best ever season – and the best season from the Silverstone factory since 1999. Podiums still eluded Hulkenberg as he had to settle for fourth in Belgium once again, although the German still enjoyed another solid season before moving to Renault for 2017. Perez twice visited the podium in Azerbaijan and Monaco on his way to seventh in the Drivers’ standings. Force India beat Williams to fourth – only behind the big three of Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari in the final reckoning.

Esteban Ocon (FRA) Sahara Force India F1 VJM10 on the grid.
Spanish Grand Prix, Sunday 14th May 2017. Barcelona, Spain. Courtesy of Force India F1 Team

In its various identities, the team now known as Force India have provided many a feel good story. From the title challenge of 1999 with Heinz-Harald Frentzen to mixing with the big boys on a small budget during this current decade. With Perez and Esteban Ocon, Force India have again looked good in 2017 – scoring with both cars in each of the first five races. You wouldn’t bet against them punching above their weight once more.

Jack Prentice

Monaco Grand Prix: two shots of happy, one shot of sad

Monte Carlo, Monaco.
Thursday 25 May 2017.
Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari SF70H.
World Copyright: Andy Hone/LAT Images
ref: Digital Image _ONZ8912  courtesy of Pirelli Media

What an ordinary Grand Prix in Monaco we saw on Sunday! Ferrari took all the stakes. Everything they could win in the Casino of Monte Carlo, they won. A fantastic Sebastian Vettel, even losing the pole position, was able to overtake the great Kimi Raikkonen, who grabbed the pole but wasn’t able to keep the fury of Seb behind him.

Valtteri Bottas tried too, but this year Ferrari is a title challenger, strong in every race. And without an unlucky Lewis Hamilton, things were surely easier for Italian squad. They have to thank Stoffel Vandoorne, who showed he is still young to feel the pressure of Monaco’s corners, for crashing twice: once in qualifying (and causing the end of the Q2 for Lewis Hamilton trying to improve his time) and once in the race, ending in inglorious fashion McLaren’s Grand Prix. But even if Lewis could have made it into Q3, we really don’t know if he could have battled with Ferrari on Sunday.

Behind Ferrari a superb Daniel Ricciardo grabbed a fantastic third place, despite many saying his performance was going down lately. No way! I’ve always thought Daniel is a great race driver and he hasn’t lost his talent. And it’s always so good to see his endless smile on the podium! And with Carlos Sainz finishing in sixth position, I think these two are the drivers of the day. Carlos showed how good Toro Rosso is in this moment and his own performance is remarkable considering the difficulty of a circuit like Monaco.

In the end, let me spend some words for Jenson Button. I was absolutely surprised looking at his performance in qualifying. He never tried the car before, only some laps in the simulator. And with wider tyres and new regulations he got in the car and learned immediately how to go fast! He is still a champion.

But the sad thing to face was that stupid penalty. After having qualified ninth, Jenson had to start from the pit lane because of new power unit parts. So, a race ruined from the start, in a circuit where is almost impossible to overtake. And after a frustrating part of the race spent behind Pascal Wehrlein, he finally tried to pass but Monte Carlo said no, you can’t. And, as a result, we saw a spectacular and scary accident with no consequences for poor Pascal and a retirement for Jenson too.

So, while Ferrari went to win the race, with two shots of happy, McLaren went to lose again with one shot of sad. Courtesy of Bono Vox…

Massimo Trapanese, F1 correspondent

Renault rumoured for Formula E exit; Nissan to take over

FIA Formula E Hong Kong e-Prix.
First Practice Session.
Sebastien Buemi (SUI), Renault e.Dams, Spark-Renault, Renault Z.E 16.
Hong Kong Harbour, Hong Kong, Asia.
Sunday 9 October 2016.
Photo: Adam Warner / FE / LAT
ref: Digital Image _L5R7464

 

Defending teams’ champions Renault could be set to exit Formula E at the end of the current season, leaving the e.Dams team to be rebranded as a works Nissan outfit for season four.

This is according to information from German news site Motorsport-Total.com, which reported earlier this week that Nissan has been preparing itself to enter the series since the winter of 2016.

Talk of Nissan competing in Formula E is nothing new. During season two, the Japanese company was one of many automotive giants alongside BMW and Mercedes said to be investigating an entry in the all-electric series—it was even reported by Autosport that Nissan was in talks to join in the current 2016–17 season as a powertrain supplier, most likely with Techeetah.

But such a move would have required the approval of Renault, with whom Nissan has been in a commercial alliance since 1999. It is understood the two companies were concerned about the negative impact of competing against their own sister brand on the same stage, in a scenario similar to Audi and Porsche in the WEC, and so Nissan’s participation in Formula E was put on hold.

2016/2017 FIA Formula E Championship.
Buenos Aires ePrix, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Saturday 18 February 2017.
Photo: Zak Mauger/LAT/Formula E
ref: Digital Image _X0W5504

But since then, the Renault-Nissan Alliance has reportedly been planning a restructure of its respective motorsport involvements. On the one hand, Renault Sport has redoubled its involvement in Formula One, and as it targets its first Grand Prix win as a marque since 2008 is said to be eyeing any resources that could freed up from its other commitments.

Nissan, meanwhile, currently competes in numerous touring car championships including Super GT and VASC, but has been without a global “top tier” programme since the collapse of its LMP1 outfit in 2015. As the company expands its range into electric vehicles with models such as the Leaf and the e-NV200, and especially as the Asian market grows increasingly lucrative for EV manufacturers, it is believed Nissan views Formula E as the ideal way to return its NISMO division to the world stage.

2016/2017 FIA Formula E Championship.
Monte-Carlo, Monaco
Saturday 13 May 2017.
Nicolas Prost (FRA), Renault e.Dams, Spark-Renault, Renault Z.E 16.
Photo: Malcolm Griffiths/LAT/Formula E
ref: Digital Image MALC0321

If Renault e.Dams were to become a factory Nissan team for next season, it is unclear how far-reaching those changes may be. It’s likely that, given the timing of the change, Nissan would simply rebadge Renault’s developed season four powertrain and concentrate through the year on producing its own bespoke unit for 2018–19; likewise, the e.Dams race operation team will also probably remain largely in place, albeit with new NISMO branding.

As for the team’s drivers, if Renault brand ambassador Alain Prost departs along with the French marque, that could put his son Nico Prost into a difficult position. The Frenchman has driven well for e.Dams, taking three ePrix victories and supporting the team’s title success, but Nissan may prefer to instal a driver of its own choosing in his place.

It also remains to be see how Renault’s exit as a works team would affect the supply of customer team Techeetah, although its possible the Nissan rebranding may involve that deal too.

James Matthews, Deputy Editor

Sergio Perez, the Mexican Podium Master

Sergio Perez (MEX) Sahara Force India F1 celebrates his third position with the team.
Monaco Grand Prix, Sunday 29th May 2016. Monte Carlo, Monaco. courtesy of Force India F1 Team

 

This week is dedicated to Sahara Force India, PitCrew’s members wrote several articles related to Force India’s history and success and now it’s the time for me to share my article with you. Enjoy!

Sahara Force India’s first entry in Formula One, with this name, was in 2008 at the Australian Grand Prix, it was not the best weekend for the team. Giancarlo Fisichella started the race from the 16th place, while Adrian started from the pit lane because he had to change his chassis. Both drivers retired, Sutil had issues with his hydraulics and Fisichella retired after a collision. A bad start doesn’t mean anything. From 2008 since today, Force India has scored more than 850 points they have secured one pole position, five fastest laps and five podiums. The first fastest lap was set by Adrian Sutil at the Italian Grand Prix in 2009, the German finished fourth in that race and scored points for the second consecutive time.

One of the best moments in team’s history was in 2009, when Giancarlo Fisichella finished second in the Belgian Grand Prix and Force India celebrated their first podium finish in their history. The Italian was the first driver who finished on the podium for the team, but another driver holds the record of the most podium finishes for Sahara Force India. He is known as Checo, comes from Mexico and has finished four times on the podium, all of them in the third place.

Bahrain 2014, Sergio Perez qualified fifth, but moved one place higher because Daniel Ricciardo dropped from third to 13th as he received a ten-place grid penalty for an unsafe pit release in Malaysia. Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg had their own battle for the first place, whilst Felipe Massa was trying to defend the third place from Sergio Perez. The Mexican failed to pass Massa on his first attempt, but on the next lap he overtook the Brazilian driver and took the third position. Checo, finished third behind the two Mercedes and followed by Daniel Ricciardo. Nico Hulkenberg, Perez’s team-mate, finished fifth at that race, behind Daniel Ricciardo.

CANADIAN GRAND PRIX F1/2012 – MONTREAL 10/06/2012 – ROMAIN GROSJEAN – MARTIN WHITMARSH – LEWIS HAMILTON – SERGIO PEREZ. Courtesy of Pirelli

 

One year later, in Russia, Perez repeated his success and scored another podium for Force India. This time he has finished behind Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel. Despite that he qualified seventh behind his team-mate he took advantage of a collision between Hulkenberg, Verstappen and Ericsson on the first laps of the race and also the fact that the safety car was deployed two times, helped him to move up to the third place after an early pit-stop. After a thrilling race, the Mexican celebrated Force India’s third podium in their Formula 1 history. Last year, Perez decided to go one step further with the podiums and finished two times on the podium in the same season.

In Monaco he set the eighth fastest lap during the qualification session, but moved up to seventh because Kimi Raikkonen received a five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change and dropped from sixth to eleventh. The race started behind the safety car, because the track was wet, that was beneficial for Force India, which after a good strategy managed to secure the third place for Perez. Perez benefited during the second round of stops, whilst many teams were confused and didn’t know when to switch from intermediates to slicks, Force India took the right decision and scored another podium. Hamilton was the winner of the 2016 Monaco Grand Prix, followed by Daniel Ricciardo and Sergio Perez.

Sergio Perez (MEX) Sahara Force India F1 celebrates his third position in parc ferme.
European Grand Prix, Sunday 19th June 2016. Baku City Circuit, Azerbaijan. Courtesy of Force India F1 Team

The second podium, in 2016, was celebrated in Baku, also known as the European Grand Prix. The odds were not with Perez, as he was demoted to seventh, because his mechanics had to replace his gearbox after a small crash into the barriers in turn 15 during the final practise session. The Mexican qualified second, but started the race from the seventh place. At the start of the race, Sergio gained two positions and moved up to fifth, on the seventeenth lap Force India called Perez into the pits, a move which helped him to pass Hamilton. During the final laps of the race, Raikkonen got a five-second time penalty for crossing the pit exit line, so Perez, who was behind him, didn’t have to pass him for the third place, but the Mexican made his move on the final lap and passed Raikkonen. This was Force India’s last podium and Perez’s fourth podium with the same team.

Last season was Force India’s best season in Formula One, Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez collected 173 points combined and the team finished fourth in the constructors’ championship behind Ferrari and ahead of Williams. So far in 2017, Force India has not managed to finish on the podium, but they have scored 53 points they are fourth and just 44 points behind Red Bull Racing. It is a very promising season for the ‘pink panthers’ and I am sure that they will finish on soon as they are very competitive so far.

Victor Archakis F1 Editor

Monaco F2: Rowland and de Vries shine in home heartbreak for Leclerc

True to form, Formula 2’s weekend in Monaco contradicted almost every expectation we had prior to the first practice.

Thursday’s qualifying dismissed any notions that experience would be a deciding factor in determining the running order when rookie Charles Leclerc made it three poles in three rounds despite running in the first group when track conditions were not at their optimum.

He was closely followed by fellow GP3 graduate, ART’s Alexander Albon, and the more experienced Oliver Rowland rounded off the top three. In the press conference after qualifying, Rowland lamented the speed at which the rookies had grown accustomed to F2, a testament to how unexpected Leclerc’s and Albon’s performances were.

2017 FIA Formula 2 Round 3.
Monte Carlo, Monaco.
Thursday 25 May 2017.
Charles Leclerc (MCO, PREMA Racing)
Photo: Zak Mauger/FIA Formula 2.
ref: Digital Image _54I5057

As it is with any race at Monte Carlo, track position and strategy were going to be key. As long as Prema could nail their strategy in the feature race, Leclerc, whose home sits just above turn one, looked all set for a home victory.

At the race start the order was largely maintained. Though Leclerc did come under initial pressure from Albon, he held his lead and in the opening laps managed to pull away from his former GP3 teammate. Drama struck when Nicholas Latifi broke down at the entrance of the tunnel, in a difficult place for the marshals to recover his car, and brought out at the first safety car. The sudden change of circumstances seemed to play straight into the hands of Albon, who had already pitted, was now able to close the gap to the front runners, which included Leclerc, Rowland and Nobuharu Matsushita. His attempt at an alternate strategy by pitting early suddenly became a serious opportunity for victory.

At the restart on lap 11, Leclerc pulled away at a blistering speed, sprinting away in an attempt to build a gap over Albon. Rowland, who was sitting in second place, kept a far steadier pace, DAMS clearly opting to delay their pit stop as long as possible rather than trying to match Leclerc’s speed.

Lap 21 saw a tidy move by Nyck de Vries on Louis Deletraz to put him into tenth place and into the points. This was swiftly followed by Deletraz coming together with Robert Visoiu, putting them both out of the race, and earning the Campos driver a DNF on debut. The second safety car of the race was deployed.

2017 FIA Formula 2 Round 3.
Monte Carlo, Monaco.
Friday 26 May 2017.
Stefano Coletti (MON, Campos Racing)
Photo: Joe Portlock/FIA Formula 2.
ref: Digital Image _L5R9226

This triggered a wave of stops from the front runners who had yet to pit, with Leclerc being the first to dive into the pit lane. The unforeseen turn of events undid ART’s gamble with Albon’s early pit, and Prema’s impatience to get Leclerc in meant he ended up losing track position to both Rowland and Artem Markelov. But things were about to get a lot worse for the local boy and championship leader.

As the cars paraded around after the safety car it became apparent that Leclerc’s front left tyre was loose, and initially the assumption was that it had not been fastened properly during the hasty pit stop. After a second stop however, the problem persisted, indicating that it was a more serious suspension breakage, and the Monegasque had no choice but to retire. It was a heart-breaking way to end the race for the driver who was so desperate to win at his home track.

Lap 26 saw the race get back underway, and it was a great restart for Rowland who looked certain to score his first win. In the end it was the man from Sheffield who stood on the top step of the podium, followed by Markelov in second, and Matsushita in third, who managed to secure two back-to-back podiums.

It was an impressive fourth place for Albon, who displayed some impressive tyre management after a long stint of the super soft tyres. Luca Ghiotto took fifth ahead of Gustav Malja, and the Rapax duo of de Vries and Cecotto crossed the line in formation in seventh and eighth, with Jordan King finishing ninth behind them. Trident also managed to finally score their first points of the season when Sergio Canamasas finished in tenth place.

2017 FIA Formula 2 Round 3.
Monte Carlo, Monaco.
Saturday 27 May 2017.
Oliver Rowland (GBR, DAMS)
Photo: Zak Mauger/FIA Formula 2.
ref: Digital Image _X4I9581

The sprint race saw seasoned veteran Johnny Cecotto Jr of Rapax starting on reverse grid pole, followed by his teammate Nyck de Vries and Racing Engineering’s Gustav Malja.

The start hammered home the point that had been made abundantly clear all weekend: that experience was playing only a minimal role around the streets of Monte Carlo. Rookie de Vries got a fantastic start, pulling ahead of Cecotto almost immediately, and built a commanding lead. Malja almost lost third place to Russian Time’s Luca Ghiotto, but just managed to stay ahead, while this weekend’s feature race winner Rowland was swiftly overtaken by his countrymen Jordan King who demoted him from the points.

As de Vries extended his lead, proving that his tyre management troubles of the early races were long gone, most of the action was occurring towards the back end of the field. A lap 4 incident between an overly optimistic Leclerc and Norman Nato at La Rascasse saw the Frenchmen retiring from the race and the Prema driver handed a ten second time penalty. The horrible weekend for the two of them just continued.

2017 FIA Formula 2 Round 3.
Monte Carlo, Monaco.
Friday 26 May 2017.
Norman Nato (FRA, Pertamina Arden)
Photo: Joe Portlock/FIA Formula 2.
ref: Digital Image _L5R9657

The middle stint of the race saw most of the drivers in the top eight attempting to earn themselves the extra two points for the fastest lap—that honour ultimately went to Artem Markelov. As the race reached around two thirds distance the soft tyres everyone was running began to degrade far more than was expected, particularly for the second placed Cecotto, which bunched up the field all the way back to sixth place.

Despite enormous pressure being heaped on those involved in these battles, only Albon lost out to Markelov, who executed a magnificent piece of late braking to complete the move for fifth. Towards the back of the field it became clear that Leclerc was struggling with the damage he sustained from his early contact with Nato, and for the second time that weekend he was forced to retire.

De Vries led a commanding race, and the McLaren junior driver handled the pressure immensely well, hardly putting a foot wrong as he drove his way to his first victory in Formula 2. Despite the close proximity of the rest of the front runners, Cecotto and Malja managed to hold onto their podium places. The points earned for King, Albon and Ghiotto meant that the three of them continued their streak of scoring points in all races of the 2017 season so far. The sprint race also saw the tally for different drivers on the podium reach ten for this season, highlighting the ultra competitive nature of the series.

2017 FIA Formula 2 Round 3.
Monte Carlo, Monaco.
Saturday 27 May 2017.
Nyck De Vries (NED, Rapax) celebrates in Parc Ferme after winning the race.
World Copyright: Zak Mauger/FIA Formula 2.
ref: Digital Image _56I7579

Oliver Rowland’s championship campaign certainly benefitted from his first race win on Friday, and despite not scoring any points on Saturday, he is now only three points shy of Charles Leclerc, who still leads the drivers’ standings. The ordinarily relaxed driver kept an exceptionally cool head to avoid making any mistakes on this tricky track. He clearly has the long game in mind, being mindful to not take any risks in the sprint race that could turn into a grid penalty for Baku, and knowing that Leclerc was unlikely to score points, this was obviously the most sensible course of action.

It was also a positive weekend for GP3 graduates Alexander Albon and Nyck de Vries. The former pulled off a blistering qualifying performance, and held his own against more experienced drivers in the race. Although he ultimately lost out in the sprint race to Markelov—who recovered well from his underwhelming weekend in Barcelona—he was able to defend well for a considerable time. De Vries seems to be progressing beyond the troubles he faced in earlier rounds, and is clearly becoming more comfortable with his machinery and Formula 2 as a whole. If he can find the qualifying pace he had in Bahrain, then it is too soon to discount him from making his mark on the championship this year.

2017 FIA Formula 2 Round 3.
Monte Carlo, Monaco.
Thursday 25 May 2017.
Alexander Albon (THA, ART Grand Prix)
Photo: Zak Mauger/FIA Formula 2.
ref: Digital Image _54I5473

Zak Mauger / FIA Formula 2

The weekend was very much one of two halves for Charles Leclerc. His performance in free practice and qualifying put him way ahead of the rest of the field. But his races were struck by some terrible luck, and no doubt left him wishing that it had happened at any other circuit. Discounting his clumsy shunt with Nato in the sprint race, he is hardly at fault, but a weekend with only four points (for his pole position) has damaged his championship challenge considerably.

Norman Nato comes a close second to Leclerc regarding this weekend’s fortunes. His retirement on Saturday marked his third race in a row without scoring any points, and what is perhaps most frustrating of all is that the whole paddock knows these results do not reflect his potential. The Frenchmen needs to find some consistency to resurrect his own chances of winning the championship this year.

Formula 2 travels to the street circuit at Baku in around a month’s time. The circuit was the site of the most dramatic and chaotic race of last season, and with the order shaken up this weekend, it is hard to say who will leave Azerbaijan as leader in the standings.

Georgia Beith, F2 Correspondent

Sahara Force India Week: Ten Years and Counting

Throughout its decade in Formula One, the Force India story has been played out by a cast of rookie drivers, rising stars and seasoned race winners, in cars ranging from back row starters to polesitters to podium finishers. As part of our Sahara Force India Week, we’ve taken a quick look back through the yearbooks at the Silverstone team to see how they’ve grown since their debut in 2008.

Adrian Sutil (GER) Force India F1 VJM01
Formula One World Championship, Rd16, Japanese Grand Prix, Practice Day, Fuji Speedway, Japan, Friday 10 October 2008. Courtesy of Sahara Force India F1 Team

VJM01: Adrian Sutil and Giancarlo Fisichella

With little more than an updated version of the 2007 Spyker F8-VIIB at their disposal, the chances for Adrian Sutil and ex-Renault signee Giancarlo Fisichella to put Force India’s maiden challenger into the points were slim at best.

Nevertheless, they did come close on several occasions—most notably Sutil running fourth in Monaco—as the team under Vijay Mallya put in place its philosophy of developing strategically and effectively throughout the year. A best finish of tenth for Fisichella in Spain and some promising displays elsewhere made 2008 a good foundation for Force India’s later success.

Giancarlo Fisichella (ITA) Force India F1 VJM02.
Formula One World Championship, Rd 12, Belgian Grand Prix, Race, Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium, Sunday 30 August 2009. Courtesy of Sahara Force India F1 Team

 

VJM02: Adrian Sutil, Giancarlo Fisichella and Vitantonio Liuzzi

Encouraged by its opening campaign, Force India now looked ahead to 2009, like many teams eyeing that season’s aerodynamics overhaul as an opportunity to shuffle up the grid. The team also signalled its intent this season by moving from Ferrari to Mercedes power—and not to mention, changing its 2008 Kingfisher livery to a striking new Indian flag-inspired design.

Of course, Force India’s ’09 season will always be remembered for Fisichella’s surprise pole and podium at Spa. But with points also and a fastest lap for Sutil at Monza and reliability greatly improved, this was also the year Force India started to establish itself as a true midfield contender.

Vitantonio Liuzzi (ITA) Force India F1 VJM03.
Formula One World Championship, Rd 18, Brazilian Grand Prix, Race, Interlagos, Sao Paulo, Brazil, Sunday 7 November 2010. Courtesy of Sahara Force India F1 Team

 

VJM03: Adrian Sutil and Vitantonio Liuzzi

For 2010 Force India retained Sutil and resigned Vitantonio Liuzzi, who drove for them at the end of 2009 following Fisichella’s mid-season call-up to Ferrari. The season started well with points for Liuzzi in the opening two rounds and a string of six top ten finishes for Sutil in the European season; the team also recorded its first double points finish in Monaco.

Results tailed off towards the end of the season with Liuzzi taking the team’s final points of the year in Korea with sixth, but 68 points on the board and a best-ever constructors’ finish of seventh was still a huge step forward for a team still in its infancy.

Adrian Sutil (GER) Force India F1 VJM04.
Formula One World Championship, Rd 13, Italian Grand Prix, Qualifying Day, Monza, Italy, Saturday 10 September 2011. Courtesy of Sahara Force India F1 Team

 

VJM04: Adrian Sutil and Paul di Resta

2011 saw a number of changes at Force India. Following the departure of James Key the previous year, the VJM04 was the first of the team’s cars to be designed by current technical director Andrew Green—it was also the first to be driven by Britain’s Paul di Resta, who was promoted from his reserve role to replace Vitantonio Liuzzi.

Initially, the new-look team yielded mixed results: there were points for Sutil and di Resta in the opening race in Melbourne, but further top ten appearances were sparse throughout the long European stretch. However, performances improved when F1 took to its Asian leg, and a string of points finishes in the final rounds—including in the team’s inaugural home race in India—meant that the Silverstone squad finished 2011 in sixth place overall, just five points shy of fifth-best Lotus-Renault.

Nico Hulkenberg (GER) Sahara Force India F1 VJM05.
Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Saturday 3rd November 2012. Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi, UAE. Courtesy of Sahara Force India F1 Team

VJM05: Paul di Resta and Nico Hülkenberg

The build-up to Force India’s 2012 season was dominated by Adrian Sutil’s Shanghai assault trial, and by the team’s decision to replace him with their reserve driver Nico Hülkenberg—this was also the year that Jules Bianchi acted as the team’s test and reserve driver.

Unfortunately Force India never managed to match the podium success of midfield rivals Sauber, Lotus and Mercedes in 2012, and ultimately slipped to seventh in the constructors’ standings. But that’s not to say it wasn’t still a successful year for the team: particular highlights included Hülkenberg, in only his second season racing, finishing in fourth place in Belgium and leading the race in Brazil for almost thirty laps before coming home in fifth.

Paul di Resta (GBR) Sahara Force India VJM06.
Korean Grand Prix, Friday 4th October 2013. Yeongam, South Korea. Courtesy of Sahara Force India F1 Team

VJM06: Paul di Resta and Adrian Sutil

For 2013, Hülkenberg moved across to Sauber, freeing up a seat for Adrian Sutil’s return to the team. His and di Resta’s car for the season was the VJM06, which had ditched the “platypus” nose of the previous year as part of a complete chassis redesign, aimed at overcoming Force India’s slight drop in form in 2012.

Suffice to say, it worked—finishing seventh and eighth respectively, Sutil and di Resta gave the team its best start to a season yet in Melbourne, and the VJM06 went on to score points in every round bar one between Australia and Great Britain. More points later in the season, including two double hauls in India and Abu Dhabi, allowed Force India to retake sixth in the constructors’ with a comfortable twenty-point gap over Sauber.

Sergio Perez (MEX) Sahara Force India F1 VJM07.
Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Sunday 23rd November 2014. Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi, UAE. Courtesy of Sahara Force India F1 Team

VJM07: Nico Hülkenberg and Sergio Pérez

2014 saw Force India embrace F1’s new turbo era with some changes of its own: having replaced Sutil and di Resta with the returning Hülkenberg and new signing Sergio Pérez, the team also exchanged its longstanding white livery for a darker, more aggressive look.

As with many of its long-nosed rivals the VJM07 was not the most visually-pleasing interpretation of the 2014 chassis regulations—but it was competitive nonetheless. Getting off the ground with a double points haul in Melbourne, the team went on to record a total of 27 top ten finishes across the season, including a podium for Pérez in Bahrain and a run of ten races in the points for Hülkenberg, that culminated in Force India’s best campaign to date.

Nico Hulkenberg (GER) Sahara Force India F1 VJM08.
Brazilian Grand Prix, Sunday 15th November 2015. Sao Paulo, Brazil. Courtesy of Sahara Force India F1 Team

VJM08/ VJM08B: Nico Hülkenberg and Sergio Pérez

Having scored a team-best 155 championship points in 2014, expectations were high for the following year. But with numerous R&D delays throughout the winter holding back the development of the VJM08, Hülkenberg and Pérez began the season lacking the downforce needed to fight for more than the few points they scored in the opening rounds.

But at the British Grand Prix, Force India introduced a B-spec VJM08, complete with distinctive “cobra” nose, and was immediately rewarded with a double points finish in the race. More points came in all but one of the remaining rounds as Pérez especially took to the new car, dicing with Lewis Hamilton for the lead in Belgium and taking his second podium for the team with third in Russia—the end result being Force India improving yet again to end 2015 as the fifth-best team overall.

Sergio Perez (MEX) Sahara Force India F1 VJM09.
European Grand Prix, Sunday 19th June 2016. Baku City Circuit, Azerbaijan. Courtesy of Sahara Force India F1 Team

VJM09: Nico Hülkenberg and Sergio Pérez

Like most of the 2016 grid, Force India’s VJM09 was little more than an evolution of the previous year’s car, as the team turned its focus ahead to the major rules changes coming in 2017.

But given how competitive the VJM08B was at the end of 2015, the team was not hurt by sticking with the design. The car was especially strong during the European leg, where Pérez hustled his way to a brace of third places in Monaco and Baku, and its combined speed and reliability led to double points finishes in every race bar two between Germany and the end of the season. After the final round in Abu Dhabi, Hülkenberg and Pérez had gathered a monumental 173 points for Force India, more than enough to beat Williams to an outstanding fourth in the Constructors’ Championship.

Esteban Ocon (FRA) Sahara Force India F1 VJM10.
Monaco Grand Prix, Sunday 28th May 2017. Monte Carlo, Monaco. Courtesy of Sahara Force India F1 Team

VJM10: Sergio Pérez and Esteban Ocon

With the remarkable success of its most recent campaigns, Force India certainly has a lot to live up to in 2017. But while many expected the team to struggle for resources in the winter development race, they have instead had their strongest start to a season since 2014.

Outfitted with a bold new pink livery, the VJM10-Mercedes has been turning heads with its performance just as much as with its looks. Taking points finishes in five of the six races so far, and missing out on a perfect run only through bad luck in Monaco, Sergio Pérez is currently leading the team’s charge with seventh in the Drivers’ Championship, whilst new signing Esteban Ocon has been delivering solid results for the team right off the bat—his current best being a fifth place in Spain—despite having made only nine F1 starts prior to the season.

With the team currently holding fourth place in the Constructors’ Championship, on almost double the points of next-best Toro Rosso, 2017 already looks set to be another fitting chapter to the extraordinary Force India story.

James Matthews, Deputy Editor

Indy500

Japan Win With Honda & Sato but Alonso’s Curse Continues

One of the most intense, exciting and memorable Indy 500 races has happened this year, we enter a new century of races in the 101st run of the event and what a way to start them. Takuma Sato, the Japanese driver who was born in Tokyo became first the Asian-born driver to ever win the historic race. Interest was heightened with one of the best drivers of the world, who can be described as that due to his performance in the race, Fernando Alonso taking part for the first time. An estimated 300,000 people were at the speedway which would of officially made it 65th largest American city in terms of population. Just how did Sato win and how did Alonso do in his debut?

Qualifying Recap

Qualifying happens a week in advance very similar to Formula 1/MotoGP style with Q1/Q2 format, the top nine, which make the top three rows took part in their own session on the following day following the first run times. The top five drivers on the grid were quadruple Indycar champion Scott Dixon took pole, and Ed Carpenter who returns only for ovals in his own racing team second, and 2016 champion Alexander Rossi started third. Eventual winner Takuma Sato started fourth and the one everyone was interested in, Fernando Alonso in 5th.

The other side of the grid was truly mixed up with some heavy hitters languishing in the midfield and towards the back of the field. Ryan Hunter-Reay started 10th, if he got in to the qualifying shoot out, he would have placed himself in 7th. Two-time Indy 500 champion Juan Pablo Montoya was 18th, three time Indy 500 champion Helio Castroneves was 19th and championship leader Simon Pagenaud qualified in a lowly 23rd. Another one to note is for James Davison started last, filling in for Sebastian Bourdais, who had that major crash on qualifying weekend, ruling him out for the rest of the season. Bourdais was trackside for the 500.

The Race

It was a clean start with front row keeping their places,.Fernando Alonso though, he fell back down the order, maybe needing a bit of time to adjust to the settings. Championship leader Simon Pagenaud and Helio Castroneves were the early movers, creeping up the field. Tony Kanaan, who started 7th, had great speed, managing to get up with Carpenter and Dixon.

The race settled, and with that Alonso and Rossi began to make their presence felt, former Indycar champion Will Power tipped heavily for the win struggled, and was falling down the order. Kanaan and Dixon were trading the lead early on, drafting each other to save fuel, whilst behind Carpenter and Rossi stayed in touch. Kanaan was the first to stop on lap 29, showing that leading the race with no draft takes up much more fuel than anywhere else on the grid. Alonso during this phase got past Dixon who seemed to be hanging on at the end of the first stint and Ed Carpenter took the lead. Juan Pablo Montoya showed skill by going 3 laps longer, pitting on lap 32, but coming out of the box he stalled his car and his work was undone. The top five after the first stint was Carpenter, Rossi, Alonso, Kanaan and Sato.

On to the second stint, Alonso began to spread his wings and took the lead on lap 37. It seemed in the first stint he observed others, while in the second he started by passing Rossi and both passed Carpenter, the amendment he made on pit road didn’t seem to do him any favours. Rossi and Alonso – both teammates – were trading the lead, drafting each other saving fuel. Team Owner Michael Andretti over the radio to Alonso ‘You and Alex can play here’ which pretty much confirmed the fuel saving strategy. This continued and were easily the two fastest cars on track.

Hunter-Reay, trying to catch team mates Rossi & Alonso made a last minute move on lapping Jay Howard. This resulted on Howard getting onto the the marbles, and pretty much a passenger, hitting the wall and breaking his front right suspension. He then under no control veered back onto the track and polesitter Scott Dixon had nowhere to go, hurtling straight into his Dallara chassis, flying and hitting the inside catch fence and landing sideways on the barrier. Both men walked away from a frightening accident. Castroneves to avoid contact actually went underneath Dixon on the grass, causing minor damage to his rear. The catch fence was broken and it was red flagged to fix and clear sheer amount of debris on the track. The top five at the show of the flag were Alonso, Rossi, Sato, Carpenter and Hunter-Reay.

20 minutes after the incident were back on track again, Alonso leading them off pit road. They then opened the pit once more, and the whole field rushed into the pit, all 31 cars still running down taking fuel and tyres. They went round for two laps behind the safety car and off they went. Alonso with a mega restart kept the lead although the two-time F1 World Champion Alonso began to fall back on lap 63. Andretti team mates Hunter-Reay and Rossi nearly hit each other trading the lead at Turn 1.

Montoya, trying to make up for his awful pit stop managed to overtake Pagenaud, Daly and Kimball on the back straight. Daly tried to follow him on the outside around Kimball but the gap closed, and the third caution was out. English driver Jack Harvey collected debris, albeit few laps down had to retire due to damage too. This brought about a change in fuel strategies and some such as Hinchcliffe, Chilton, Power and Pippa Mann pitted mid-stint. Pippa was doing well in her rookie Indy 500, keeping it clean and competitive. Helio pitted a lap later under the safety car, and during the period found out he received a drive through due to jumping Daly at the previous restart.

The race went green on lap 65, and Rossi took the lead. On the restart they went four wide in the midfield, championship leader Pagenaud still continued to struggle and was swamped by those three men. Kanaan began to get closer in his hunt for a second victory, battling with Alonso. Alonso broke the toe, and went after Hunter-Reay.

Caution 4 came because of debris on the front straight, part of Marco Andretti’s wing came off, flying up high and landing on track. All drivers under this safety period hit the pits, this left the people who decided to pit earlier on in the lead. Sato’s team made an error in the pits – a dropped wheelnut dropping him to 17th. Max Chilton led the restart, followed by Power & Castroneves – Hunter-Reay and co. now running from 4th onwards.

Chilton started well getting away from Power in P2. Hunter-Reay and Andretti teammates began to use their fresh tyres to their advantage and were much quicker around the corners. Chilton was keeping his own, using the knowledge he has gained from Indycar legend Dario Franchitti to good effect, whilst Power began to fall back, passed by veteran Castroneves and the Andretti drivers. Rossi took the opportunity to get past everyone to take the lead once more. Rossi and Castroneves seem to be trading the lead, a common trend for leaders across the whole race, Castroneves led on lap 100, after starting in 18th.

On lap 104 Castroneves took to the pit lane, quite remarkable considering he had to take that drive through he was still leading. He pitted much earlier than the rest of the leading back, but they all came back out fighting to stay on the lead lap, amongst the battle for the lead. On lap 113 Rossi pitted with Alonso and Hunter-Reay a lap later, with very slow stops for Rossi and Alonso compared to Hunter-Reay, after it all settled down on lap 116 he had a 3.5 second lead. The top 10 after the stops were Hunter-Reay, Alonso, Rossi, Castroneves and Power. Sato had got back up to P7, alongside with Montoya in P10, whilst Chilton had dropped to P13.

A spree of yellow cautions began with Buddy Lazier, the 49 year old coming back for a one-off race was racing well but he lost it and collided with the wall, bringing out the full course yellow once again. He was uninjured. Chilton decided to pit under caution once more, dropping to the back of the field. It looked like they were about to bring the yellows in, but Chilton had one less to deal with as Sage Karam stopped with mechanical difficulty and had to retire. They went green for two laps but more debris was found on the track, Pagenaud was the only one noticeable to pit once more, everyone else stayed out under this caution.

It was green again lap 135 and Alonso began to once more strategically share the lead with Hunter-Reay, until down the back straight on lap 137 the American’s Honda engine failed, familiar scenes for Alonso. Honda have tried to get a few extra horsepower over Chevrolet rivals, but reliability just like Formua 1 is something they have begin to struggle with. Don’t forget Alonso had to change his engine prior to qualifying. The 2014 Indy 500 champion was out, and yellows were out once again, the majority of the field decided to pit leaving the likes of Chilton and Davison. There were poor stops for Alonso and Rossi dropping to 12th and 21st respectively.

After a short green flag period as Carpenter lost his rear end, hitting the side of Russian Aleshin, severely damaged the Russian. Alonso managed to get to 9th place before the flag was shown. Kimball managed to jump Chilton during that brief period too into 1st. The green flag followed shortly once more, an amazing 5 wide on restart, Pagenaud once more being swallowed up by the field. Kimball and Chilton had a massive fight as the race entered its last quarter. On lap 163 Chilton pitted, and with 36 to go in similar circumstances to Rossi last year. Luck was in for the Englishman as he just managed to get the stop in, and more alarm bells began to ring again for Honda drivers, as Kimball’s engine also gives up.

Several drivers decided to pit under the caution, but as a result Chilton still leads, Sato managed to get himself back up into the mix, whilst Castroneves after a face full oil from Kimball was in the mix. Alonso, albeit with a clean stop once more dropped to 9th and time was running out for the Spanish driver as the race went green again with 29 laps to go. Chilton now had his mirrors full of Castroneves, chasing his fourth Indy 500 victory.

In cruel but not unfamiliar circumstances, Fernando Alonso’s engine gave up, bringing out another caution. All Michael Andretti could do on the radio is apologise. He got out of his Dallara, and all 300,000 people gave around of applause, more so than Dixon when he walked out of his crash. If this was a way to keep Alonso’s faith in Honda, they have only dug themselves a deeper hole.

In the battle for the lead, former F1 drivers Max Chilton and Takuma Sato were hard at it. Noth would be winning their first Indy 500, Chilton would be winning his first ever Indy race, whilst Sato would be winning his second, a 4 year wait since his win at Long Beach. Alonso bringing out the caution was short lived, and back under way, but once more not for long, a 5 car pile up at Turn 1. Oriol Servia tried to pass Davison, ended up collecting him and both hit the wall, Power and Hinchcliffe innocent victims. Hinchcliffe’s poor run at Indianapolis continued, whilst Josef Newgarden lost it on his own on the infield.

In the dying laps Castroneves saw Sato lose his momentum after failed overtakes on Chilton, and relegated the Japanese driver into third place. Castroneves, now set his sights on Chilton. Castroneves passed Chilton and looked for all the world to be the favourite while Sato quickly followed him. On lap 197 Sato, ignoring the ghosts from 2012, knocked Castroneves back to second – far from the move he made on Franchitti on lap 200 5 years ago which resulted in him ending up in the wall.

Sato was able to hold off the Castroneves assault in the final three laps and won his first ever Indianpolis 500 and his second Indycar race at the scene of his only Formula One podium back in 2004.

Race Result, Top 5

P1 Takuma Sato
P2 Helio Castroneves
P3 Ed Jones (R)
P4 Max Chilton
P5 Tony Kanaan

Selected others

P6 Juan Pablo Montoya
P7 Alex Rossi
P14 Simon Pagenaud
P17 Pippa Mann
DNF Fernando Alonso
DNF Ryan Hunter-Reay
DNF Scott Dixon

Drivers comments

Sato – ‘Unbelievable, the best feeling’ – He just couldn’t thank the team enough, he still with 3 laps had doubt that he could do it.
Castroneves – ‘We fight together but today wasn’t my day’ – He felt god was looking after him after his avoidance, and was just a little too hard for him.
Alonso – ‘One of the best experiences in my career’ – He pushed hard and clearly loved being competitive.

Dixon ‘It sure was a wild ride’ – He could not thank enough for the safety of Indycar, just held on and hoped for the best, looked so calm, you couldn’t tell he was in such a scary crash.

By Chris Lord

Image courtesy of Eric Barnes

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